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COMLEY'S 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



STATE OF NEW YORK, 

EMBRACING 

A GENERAL REVIEW OF HER AGRICULTURAL AND MINERALOGICAL RESOURCES, 

HER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES, TRADE AND COMMERCE, 

TOGETHER WITH A DESCRIPTION OF 

HER GREAT METROPOLIS, 

From its Settlement by the Dutch, in 1609. 



, ■ ■ • . , ' > , 

>■>.,,■, , 



By W. J. COM LEY. 






. ■ > > ■ > 



ALSO, AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY OF SOME OF THE OLD SETTLERS, AND MANY 
OF HER MOST PROMINENT PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS MEN. 



SPLENDIDLY ILLUSTRATED. 



NEW YORK: 

COMLEY BROTHERS' MANUFACTURING AND PUBLISHING CO., 767 AND 769 BROADWAY. 

1877. 



J 03 







/ 









f 



</+7 



i* 



DEDICATION. 



TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK; 

TO YOU WHO HAVE DEVELOPED THE RESOURCES AND BUILT UP 

THE CITIES AND TOWNS OF THIS STATE; TO YOU WHO 

HAVE GIVEN IT ITS WEALTH, ITS FAME, AND ITS 

BUSINESS; TO YOU WHO HAVE GIVEN IT 

ITS REPUTATION ABROAD AND 

PROSPERITY AT HOME, 

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 



BY 



®!w §utth<rr. 



PREFACE. 



IN laying before the public a new work, designed to present the growth and 
the importance of the commerce and manufactures, and the development 
of the agriculture and mineralogy of the Empire State, it is not to be expected 
that a plan so entirely new, and so ambitious, should be executed with either 
the precision or the completeness that may be attained by those who travel in 

a beaten path. 

That the task has been adequately performed, is an assertion which is left 
for other and less deeply interested persons to make. Yet it is not our pur- 
pose to offer one word of apology for faulty arrangement, or for imperfections, 
the causes of which are as patent as the blemishes themselves. 

The history of trade, like the history of any other of the transactions in 
human affairs, can only be intelligently presented to the mass of readers by 
seizing upon such facts as most fully illustrate its character, and holding up a 
series of pictures which constitute a congruous whole. 

All candid minds must pronounce at once upon the impossibility of elabo- 
rating in every detail, in a single volume, the working of the wonderful engine 
of trade, which is operating continually in our midst. Such a result has not 
even been attempted; but in its place it has been sought to give a series of 
outlines, presenting the most prominent features of the relations of the State 
of New York, with her tributary country, in such manner as to best convey an 
idea of the magnitude and direction of her commerce, and the requirements it 

has to supply. 

The biographical feature of the work is not new, since biography in some 
form is inseparable from the relation of any human action ; yet, in its treatment 
in the book the history of men is interwoven with the record of their affairs, 
in the same intimate connections which they sustain in the daily current of 
commercial life. Business affairs do not transact themselves ; therefore it seemed 
eminently proper that their history should be blended with the life struggles 
and triumphs of the men who are charged with the responsibility of their 
movement. 

While not deprecating honest criticism, I will yet express the hope that the 
difficulties, inherent in such a task as we have undertaken, will meet with due 
consideration when the value of the work itself is being estimated. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page 

Title-page 

Dedication 

Preface 

Ancient Pre-occupants of the Region of Western New York 33 

The Iroquois or Five Nations 44 

New York State 4 6 

Early Glimpses of Western New York 04 

Observations of Wentworth Greenhalph °5 

Governors of the Colony and State 7° 

Great Cities 7 1 

New York City • 75 

Domestic Exports from the Port of New York for the Last Twenty Years 77 

Foreign Exports from the Port of New York for the Last Twenty Years 77 

Foreign Imports at the Port of New York for the Last Twenty Years 77 

Receipts of Domestic Produce at New York for the Year 1876 78 

Exports of Produce from New York for the Year 1S76 7§ 

Manufactures 79 

Finances 79 

Courts 79 

Education °° 

Churches ° 3 

Charities ° 3 

Public Buildings £5 

Water- Works °7 

Markets ^7 

Fire, Police, and Post-Office Departments bb 

History of New York City ;;'";;*', V '," V« 9 ° 

An Historical Summary of the Several Attacks made upon the City of New York, and the Meas- 
ures that have been adopted for their Defence from 1613 until 1812 95 

Advantages of New York as set forth a Century ago I0 9 

Mementoes of the Olden Time IJT 

A Duel I] 

The Seasons ' 

An Earthquake 

The Commercial Marine. 

Small-Pox * 

First Fire-Engines. 
Hard Times. 



Election 

Burning of the Archives of Trinity Church 

The Oyster Pasty Battery 

Whales in the North River ' 

Wild Pigeons 

Sale of Slaves , 



112 
112 
112 
112 
112 



TAKLE OF CONTENTS. 



Pillory and Cage 

King George's Statue 

The Batter)' 

The Dutch Church in the Fort 

Pirates and Privateers 

The Windmill on the Commons 

The City Fathers 

Beekman's Swamp 

The First Public Library 

Negroes and Slaves 

Office-holders 

Trinity Church ' 

Bolting and Baking Monopoly 

Watch and Police Regulations 

Captain Kidd 

Classical School , 

Road to Harlem 

Lighting the City 

Arrival of a Governor 

Duties of Aldermen 

Showing Date and Birth of First Female Born in New York. 

Social Amusements in the Olden Time 

The Battery 



Ferry to Long Island 

Mails 

The Original Mammoth 

Capture of Pirates 

The First Presbyterian Church in Wall Street. 

First Daily Newspaper 

Cold Weather 

A Nobleman's Mother 

Estimate of the Support of the City 

Mild Weather 

After the Great Fire , 

First Negro Plot in the City of New York. . . . 
Brooklyn 



Page 

[12 

12 
12 

12 
12 

13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
13 
14 
15 
16 
16 
16 
16 
16 
16 
17 
17 
17 
18 
18 
18 
18 
18 
18 
18 
19 
19 
19 
19 
21 



Title-page, Biographical Encyclopaedia 327 

Preface, " " 329 

Biographies 331 



THE ANCIENT PRE-OCCUPANTS OF THE REGION OF WESTERN 

NEW YORK. 

The local historian of almost our entire continent finds at the threshold of the task 
he enters upon, difficulties and embarrassments. If for a starting-point the first advent 
of civilization is chosen, a summary disposition is made of all that preceded it, 
unsatisfactory to author and reader. Our own race was the successor of others. 
Here in our own region, when the waters of the Niagara were first disturbed by a 
craft of European architecture — when the adventurous Frenchman would first pitch 
a tent upon its banks, there were " lords of the Forests and the Lakes" to be con- 
sulted. Where stood that humble primitive "palisade," its site grudgingly and 
suspiciously granted, in process of time arose strong walls — ramparts, from behind 
which the armies of successive nations were arranged to repel assailants. The 
dense forests that for more than a century enshrouded them, unbroken by the 
woodman's axe, have now disappeared, or but skirt a peaceful and beautiful culti- 
vated landscape. Civilization, improvement, and industry have made an Empire of 
the region that for a long period was tributary to this nucleus of early events. 
Cities have been founded — the Arts, Sciences taught ; Learning has its temples and 
its votaries; History its enlightened and earnest inquirers. And yet, with the pre- 
occupant lingering" until even now in our midst, we have but the unsatisfactory 
knowledge of him and his race which is gathered from dim and obscure tradition. 
That which is suited to the pages of fiction and romance, but can be incorporated in 
the pages of history only with suspicion and distrust. The learned and the curious 
have from time to time inquired of their old men ; they have sat down in their wig- 
wams and listened to their recitals ; the pages of history have been searched and 
compared with their imperfect revelations, to discover some faint coincidence or 
analogy; and yet we know nothing of the origin, and have but unsatisfactory 
traditions of the people we found here and have almost dispossessed. 

If their own history is obscure; if their relations of themselves, after they have 
gone back but little more than a century beyond the period of the first European 
emigration, degenerates to fable and obscure tradition, they are but poor revelators 
of a still greater mystery. We arc surrounded by evidences that a race preceded 
them, farther advanced in civilization and the arts, and far more numerous. Here 
and there upon the brows of our hills, at the head of our ravines, are their fortifica- 
tions; their locations selected with skill, adapted to refuge, subsistence, and defence. 
The uprooted trees of our forest, that are the growth of centuries, expose their 
mouldering remains; the uncovered mounds, masses of their skeletons promiscu- 
ously heaped one upon the other, as if they were the gathered and hurriedly 
entombed of well-contested fields. In our valleys, upon our hill-sides, the plough 
and the spade discover their rude implements, adapted to war, the chase, and 
domestic use. All these are dumb yet eloquent chronicles of by-gone ages. We 
ask the red man to tell us from whence they came and whither they went ? and he 
either amuses us with wild and extravagant traditionary legends, or acknowledges 
himself as ignorant as his interrogators. He and his progenitors have gazed upon 
these ancient relics for centuries, as we do now — wondered and consulted their 



34 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

wise men, and yet he is unable to aid our inquiries. We invoke the aid of reve- 
lation, turn over the pages of history, trace the origin and dispersion of the races of 
mankind from the earliest period of the world's existence, and yet we gather only 
enough to form the basis of vague surmise and conjecture. The crumbling walls — 
the " Ruins," overgrown by the gigantic forests of Central America, are not involved 
in more impenetrable obscurity, than are the more humble but equally interesting 
mounds and relics that abound in our own region. 

We are prone to speak of ourselves as the inhabitants of a netv world ; and yet 
we are confronted with such evidences of antiquity ! We clear away the forests and 
speak familiarly of subduing a "virgin soil;" and yet the plough up-turns the 
skulls of those whose history is lost ! We say that Columbus discovered a new 
world. Why not that he helped to make two old ones acquainted with each other ? 

Our advent here is but one of the changes of time. We are consulting dumb 
signs, inanimate and unintelligible witnesses, gleaning but unsatisfactory know- 
ledge of races that have preceded us. Who in view of earth's revolutions; the 
developments that the young but rapidly progressive science of Geology has made ; 
the organic remains that are found in the alluvial deposits in our valleys, deeply 
embedded under successive strata of rock in our mountain ranges ; the impressions 
in our coal formations ; history's emphatic teachings ; fails to reflect that our own 
race may not be exempt from the operations of what may be regarded as general 
laws ? Who shall say that the scholar, the antiquarian, of another far-off century, 
may not be a Champollion deciphering the inscriptions upon our monuments — or a 
Stevens, wandering among the ruins of our cities, to gather relics to identify our 
existence ? 

" Since the first sun-light spread itself o'er earth ; 
Since Chaos gave a thousand systems birth ; 
Since first the morning stars together sung ; 
Since first this globe was on its axis hung ; 
Untiring change, with ever-moving hand, 
Has waved o'er earth its more than magic wand." * 

Although not peculiar to this region, there is perhaps no portion of the United 
States where ancient relics are more numerous. Commencing principally near the 
Oswego River, they extend westwardly over all the western counties of our State, 
Canada West, the western Lake Region, the valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi. 
Either as now, the western portion of our State had attractions and inducements to 
make it a favorite residence; or these people, assailed from the north and the east, 
made this a refuge in a war of extermination, fortified the commanding eminences, 
met the shock of a final issue; were subject to its adverse results. Were their 
habits and pursuits mixed ones, their residence was well chosen. The Forest 
invited to the chase ; the Lakes and Rivers to local commerce — to the use of the 
net and the angling-rod; the soil, to agriculture. The evidences that this was one, 
at least, of their final battle-grounds, predominate. They are the fortifications, 
intrenchments, and warlike instruments. That here was a war of extermination, 
we may conclude, from the masses of human skeletons we find indiscriminately 
thrown together, indicating a common and simultaneous sepulture; from which 
age, infancy, sex, no condition, was exempt. 

In assuming that these are the remains of a people other than the Indian race 
we found here, the author has the authority of De Witt Clinton — a name scarcely 

* "Changes of Time," a Poem by B. B. French. 



comley's history of the state of new york. 35 

less identified with our literature than with our achievements in internal improve- 
ments. In a discourse delivered before the New York Historical Society in 1811, 
Mr. Clinton says : " Previous to the occupation of this country by the progenitors 
of the present race of Indians, it was inhabited by a race of men much more popu- 
lous, and much farther advanced in civilization." Indeed the abstract position may 
be regarded as conceded. Who they were, whence they came, and whither they 
went, have been themes of speculation with learned antiquarians, who have failed 
to arrive at any satisfactory conclusions. In a field, or historical department, so 
ably and thoroughly explored, the author would not venture opinions or theories of 
his own, even were it not a subject of inquiry, in the main, distinct from the objects 
of his work. It is a topic prolific enough of reflection, inquiry, and speculation, for 
volumes, rather than an incidental historical chapter. And yet, it is a subject of too 
much local interest to be wholly passed over. 

At the early period at which Mr. Clinton advanced the theory that the Ridge 
Road was once the southern shore of Lake Ontario — 1811 — when settlement was but 
just begun, and a dense forest precluded a close observation, he was quite liable to fall 
into the error that time and better opportunities for investigation have corrected. 
The formation, composition, alluvial deposits, etc., of the Ridge Road, with reference 
to its two sides, present almost an entire uniformity. There is, at least, not the dis- 
tinction that would be apparent if there had been the action of water, depositing its 
materials only upon its northern side. By supposing the Mountain Ridge to have 
once been the southern shore of Lake Ontario, it would follow that the Ridge Road 
may have been a Sand bar. The nature of both, their relative positions, would 
render this a far more reasonable hypothesis than the other; and when we add the 
fact that the immediate slope, or falling off, is almost as much generally, upon the 
south as the north side of the Ridge Road, we are under the necessity of abandon- 
ing the precedent theory. There is from the Niagara to the Genesee River, upon 
the Mountain Ridge, a line, or cordon, of these ancient fortifications — none, as the 
author concludes, from observation and inquiry, between the two.* 

But a few of the most prominent of these ancient fortifications will be noticed, 
enough only to give the reader who has not had an opportunity of seeing them a 
general idea of their structure, and relics which almost uniformly may be found in 
and about them. 

Upon a slope or offset of the Mountain Ridge three and a half miles from the 
village of Lewiston, is a marked spot, that the Tuscarora Indians call Kienuka.\ 
There is a burial ground, and two elliptic mounds or barrows that have a diameter 
of 20 feet, and an elevation of from 4 to 5 feet. A mass of detached works, with 
spaces intervening, seems to have been chosen as a rock citadel ; and well chosen — 
for the mountain fastnesses of Switzerland are but little better adapted to the pur- 
poses of a look-out and defence. The sites of habitations are marked by remains of 
pottery, pipes, and other evidences. 

Eight miles east of this, upon one of the most elevated points of the mountain 
ridge in the town of Cambria, upon the farm until recently owned by Eliakim 
Hammond, now owned by John Gould, is an ancient fortification and burial-place, 

*Upon an elevation, on the shore of Lake Ontario near the Eighteen-mile-Creek, there is a 
mound similar in appearance to some of those that have been termed ancient ; though it is unques- 
tionably incident to the early French and Indian wars of this region. And the same conclusion may 
be formed in reference to other similar ones along the shore of the lake. 

+ Meaning: a fort, or stronghold, that has a commanding position, or from which there is a fine 
v i e w . 



36 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

possessing perhaps as great a degree of interest and as distinct characteristics as any 
that have been discovered in Western New York. The author having been one of 
a party that made a thorough examination of the spot soon after its first discovery 
in 1823, he is enabled from memory and some published accounts of his at the time, 
to state the extent and character of the relics. 

The location commands a view of Lake Ontario and the surrounding country. 
An area of about six acres of level ground appears to have been occupied; fronting 
which, upon a circular verge of the mountain, were distinct remains of a wall. 
Nearly in the centre of the area was a depository of the dead. It was a pit exca- 
vated to the depth of four or five feet, filled with human bones, over which were 
slabs of sand stone. Hundreds seem to have been thrown in promiscuously, of 
both sexes and all ages. Extreme old age was distinctly identified by toothless 
jaws, and the complete absorption of the alveolar processes ; and extreme infancy, by 
the small skulls and incomplete ossification. Numerous barbs or arrow-points 
were found among the bones, and in the vicinity. One skull retained the arrow 
that had pierced it, the aperture it had made on entering being distinctly visible. 
In the position of the skeletons, there was none of the signs of ordinary Indian 
burial ; but evidences that the bodies were thrown in promiscuously, and at the 
same time. The conjecture might well be indulged that it had been the theatre of a 
sanguinary battle, terminating in favor of the assailants, and a general massacre. 
A thigh-bone of unusual length was preserved for a considerable period by a physi- 
cian of Lockport, and excited much curiosity. It had been fractured obliquely. In 
the absence of any surgical skill, or at least any application of it, the bone had 
strongly reunited, though evidently so as to have left the foot turned out at nearly 
a right angle. Of course, the natural surfaces of the bone were in contact, and not 
the fractured surfaces; and yet spurs or ligaments were thrown out by nature, in 
its healing process, and so firmly knit and interwoven as to form, if not a perfect, a 
firm reunion ! It was by no means a finished piece of surgery, but to all appear- 
ances had answered a very good purpose. The medical student will think the pa- 
tient must have possessed all the fortitude and stoicism of his race, to have kept his 
fractured limb in a necessarily fixed position, during the long months that the healing 
process must have been going on, in the absence of splints and gum elastic bands. 
A tree had been cut down growing directly over the mound, upon the stump of 
which could be counted 230 concentric circles. Remains of rude specimens of 
earthen ware, pieces of copper, and iron instruments of rude workmanship were 
ploughed up within the area ; also, charred wood, corn and cobs. 

At the head of a deep gorge, a mile west of Lockport (similar to the one that 
forms the natural canal basin, from which the combined Locks ascend), in the early 
settlement of the country, a circular raised work, or ring-fort, could be distinctly 
traced. Leading from the inclosed area, there had been a covered way to a spring 
of pure cold water that issues from a fissure in the rock, some 50 or 60 feet down 

Note. — The following passage appears in " Cusick's History of the Six Nations," the extraordi- 
nary production of a native Tuscarora, that it will be necessary to notice in another part of the work. 

About this time the King of the Five Nations had ordered the Great War chief, Shorihawne (a Mo- 
hawk), to march directly with an army of five thousand warriors to aid the Governor of Canandaigua 
against the Erians, to attack the Fort Kayquatkay and endeavor to extinguish the council-fire of the 
enemy, which was becoming dangerous to the neighboring nations ; but unfortunately during the 
siege, a shower of arrows was flying from the fort, the great war chief Shorihawne was killed, and his 
body was conveyed back to the woods and was buried in a solemn manner ; but however, the siege 
continued for several days ; the Erians sued for peace ; the army immediately ceased from hostilities, 
and left the Erians in entire possession of the country. 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 37 

the declivity. Such covered paths, or rather the remains of them, lead from many 
of these ancient fortifications. Mr. Schoolcraft concludes that they were intended for 
the emergency of a prolonged siege. They would seem now, to have been but a 
poor defence for the water-carriers, against the weapons of modern warfare; yet 
probably sufficient to protect them from arrows, and a foe that had no sappers or 
miners in their ranks. 

There is an ancient battle-field upon the Buffalo Creek six miles from Buffalo, 
near the Mission Station. There are appearances of an inclosed area, a mound 
where human bones have been excavated, remains of pottery ware, etc. The Se- 
necas have a tradition that here was a last decisive battle between their people and 
their inveterate enemies the Kah-Kwahs ; though there would seem to be no reason 
why the fortification should not be classed among those that existed long before the 
Senecas are supposed to have inhabited this region. 

A mile north of Aurora village, in Erie County, there are several small lakes or 
ponds, around and between which there are knobs or elevations, thickly covered 
with a tall growth of pine; upon them are several mounds, where many human 
bones have been excavated. In fact, Aurora and its vicinity seems to have been a 
favorite resort not only for the ancient people whose works and remains we are 
noticing, but for the other races that succeeded them. Relics abound there perhaps 
to a greater extent than in any other locality in Western New York. An area of 
from three to four miles in extent, embracing 'the village, the ponds, the fine springs 
of water at the foot of the bluffs to the north, and the level plain to the south, 
would seem to have been thickly populated. There are in the village and vicin- 
ity few gardens and fields where ancient and Indian relics are not found at each suc- 
cessive ploughing. Few cellars are excavated without discovering them. In digging 
a cellar a few years since, upon the farm of Charles P. Pier son, a skeleton was ex- 
humed, the thigh-bones of which would indicate great height ; exceeding by sev- 
eral inches that of the tallest of our own race. In digging another cellar, a large 
number of skeletons, or detached bones, were thrown out. Upon the farm of M. 
B. Crooks, two miles from the village, where a tree had been turned up, several 
hundred pounds of axes were found ; a blacksmith who was working up some axes 
that were found in Aurora, told the author that most of them were without any steel, 
but that the iron was of a superior quality. He had one that was entirely of steel, 
out of which he was manufacturing some edge tools. 

Near the village, principally upon the farm of the late Horace S. Turner, was 
an extensive Beaver Dam. It is but a few years since an aged Seneca strolled away 
from the road, visited the ponds, the springs, and coming to a field once overflowed 
by the dam, but then reclaimed and cultivated, said these were the haunts of his 
youth— upon the hills he had chased the deer, at the springs he had slaked his thirst, 
and in the field he had trapped the beaver. 

The ancient works at Fort Hill, Le Roy, are especially worthy of observation 
in connection with this interesting branch of history, or rather inquiry. The author 
is principally indebted for an account of them to Mr. Schoolcraft's " Notes on the 
Iroquois," for which it was communicated by F; Follett, of Batavia. They are three 
miles north of Le Roy, on an elevated point of land, formed by the junction of a 
small stream called Fordham's Brook, with Allen's Creek. The better view of Fort 
Hill is had to the north of it, about a quarter of a mile on the road leading from 
Bergen to Le Roy. From this point of observation it needs little aid of the imag- 
ination to conceive that it was erected as a fortification by a large and powerful 
army, looking for a permanent and inaccessible bulwark of defence. From the 



38 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

centre of the hill, in a north-westerly course, the country lies quite flat ; more imme- 
diately north, and inclining to the east, the land is also level for one hundred rods, 
where it rises nearly as high as the hill, and continues for several miles quite ele- 
vated. In approaching the hill from the north, it stands very prominently before you, 
rising rather abruptly but not perpendicularly, to the height of eighty or ninety 
feet, extending about forty rods on a line east and west, the corners being round or 
truncated, and continuing to the south on the west side for some fifty or sixty rods, 
and on the east side for about half a mile, maintaining about the same elevation on 
the sides as in front ; beyond which distance the line of the hill is that of the land 
around. There are undoubted evidences of its having been resorted to as a fortifi- 
cation, and of its having constituted a valuable point of defence to a rude and half 
civilized people. Forty years ago, an intrenchment ten feet deep, and some twelve 
or fifteen feet wide, extended from the west to the east end, along the north or front 
part, and continued up each side about twenty rods, where it crossed over, and join- 
ing, made the circuit of intrenchment complete. At this day a portion of the in- 
trenchment is easily perceived, for fifteen rods along the extreme western half of the 
north or front part, the cultivation of the soil and other causes having nearly obliter- 
ated all other portions. It would seem that this fortification was arranged more 
for protection against invasion from the north, this direction being evidently its 
most commanding position. Near the north-west corner, piles of rounded stones 
have, at different times, been collected of hard consistence, which are supposed to have 
been used as weapons of defence by the besieged against the besiegers. Such skele- 
tons as have been found in and about this locality, indicate a race of men averaging 
one third larger than the present race ; so adjudged by anatomists. From the 
fortification, a trench leads to a spring of water. Arrow-heads, pipes, beads, 
gouges, pestles, stone hatchets, have been found upon the ground, and excavated, 
in and about these fortifications. The pipes were of both stone and earthen ware ; 
there was one of baked clay, the bowl of which was in the form of a man's head 
and face, the nose, the eyes, and other features being depicted in a style resem- 
bling some of the figures in Mr. Stevens's plate of the ruins of Central America. 
Forest trees were standing in the trench and on its sides, in size and age not differing 
from those in the neighboring forests ; and upon the ground, the heart-woods of 
black-cherry trees of large size, the remains undoubtedly of a growth of timber 
that preceded the present growth. They were in such a state of soundness as to be 
used for timber by the first settlers. This last circumstance would establish greater 
antiquity for these works than has been generally claimed from other evidences. 
The black cherry of this region attains usually the age of two hundred and 
seventy-five and three hundred years ; the beech and maple groves of Western 
New York bear evidences of having existed at least two hundred and forty or fifty 
years. These aggregates would show that these works were over five hundred years 
old. But this, like other timber growth testimony that has been adduced — that 
seems to have been relied upon somewhat by Mr. Clinton and others — is far from 
being satisfactory. We can only determine by this species of evidence, that timber 
has been growing upon these mounds and fortifications at least a certain length of 
time — have no warrant for saying how much longer. Take, for instance, the case 
under immediate consideration : How is it to be determined that there were not 
more than the two growths, of cherry, and beech and maple ; that other growths did 
not precede or intervene ? These relics are found in our dense and heaviest timbered 
wood lands, below a deep vegetable mould interspersed with evidences of a long 
succession of timber growths and decays. We can in truth form but a vague con- 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 39 

ception of the length of time since these works were constructed : while we are 
authorized in saying they are of great antiquity, we are not authorized in limiting 
the period. 

The following are among some reflections of Professor Dewey of Rochester, 
who has reviewed Fort Hill at Le Roy, and furnished Mr. Schoolcraft with his 
observations. They may aid the reader, who is an antiquarian, in his specula- 
tions : 

" The forest has been removed. Not a tree remains on the quadrangle, and only 
a few on the edge of the ravine on the west. By cultivating the land, the trench is 
nearly filled in some places, though the line of it is clearly seen. On the north side 
the trench is considerable, and where the bridge crosses it, is three or four feet deep 
at the sides of the road. It will take only a few years more to obliterate it entirely, 
as not even a stump remains to mark out its line. 

" From this view it may be seen, or inferred, 

" 1. That a real trench bounded three sides of the quadrangle. On the south side 
there was not found any trace of trench, palisadoes, blocks, etc. 

"2. It was formed long before the whites came into the country. The large trees 
on the ground and in the trench carry us back to an early era. 

" 3. The workers must have had some convenient tools for excavation. 

" 4. The direction of the sides may have had some reference to the four cardinal 
points, though the situation of the ravines naturally marked out the lines. 

"5. It cannot have been designed merely to catch wild animals, to be driven into 
it from the south. The oblique line down to the spring is opposed to this sup- 
position, as well as the insufficiency of such a trench to confine the animals of the 
forest. 

"6. The same reasons render it improbable that the quadrangle was designed to 
confine and protect domestic animals. 

"7. It was probably a sort of fortified place. There might have been a defence 
on the south side by a stockade, or some similar means which might have entirely 
disappeared. 

" By what people was this work done ? 

" The articles found in the burying ground here, offer no certain reply. The 

axes, chisels, etc., found on the Indian grounds in this part of the State, were 

evidently made of the green stone or trap of New England, like those found on the 

• Connecticut River in Massachusetts. The pipe of limestone might be from that 

part of the country. The pipes seem to belong to different eras. 

" 1. The limestone pipe indicates the work of the savage or aborigines. 

" 2. The third indicates the age of French influence over the Indians. An intel- 
ligent French gentleman says such clay pipes are frequent among the town popula- 
tion in parts of France. 

" 3. The second, and most curious, seems to indicate an earlier age and people. 

"The beads found at Fort Hill are long and coarse, made of baked clay, and may 
have had the same origin as the third pipe. 

" Fort Hill cannot have been formed by the French as one of their posts to aid 
in the destruction of the English colony of New York; if the French had made Fort 
Hill a post as early as 1660, or 185 years ago, and then deserted it, the trees could 
not have grown to the size of the forest generally in 1810, or in 150 years after- 
wards. The white settlements had extended only twelve miles west of Avon in 
1798, and some years after (1800), Fort Hill was covered with a dense forest. A 



4<D COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

chestnut tree, cut down in 1842, at Rochester, showed 254 concentric circles of 
wood, and must have been more than 200 years old in 1800. So opposed is the 
notion that this was a deserted French post. 

" Must we not refer Fort Hill to that race which peopled this country before the 
Indians, who raised so many monuments greatly exceeding the power of the Indians, 
and who lived at a remote era?" 

Upon the upper end of Tonawanda Island, in the Niagara River, near the 
dwelling house of the late Stephen White, in full view of the village of Tonawanda, 
and the Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad, is an ancient mound, the elevation of 
which, within the recollection of the early settlers, was at least ten feet. It is now 
from six to eight feet — circular — twenty-five feet diameter at the base. In the 
centre, a deep excavation has been made, at different periods, in search of relics. A 
large number of human bones have been taken from it — arrows, beads, hatchets, 
etc. The mound occupies a prominent position in the pleasure grounds laid out by 
Mr. White. How distinctly are different ages marked upon this spot ! Here are 
the mouldering remains of a primitive race — a race whose highest achievements in 
the arts was the fashioning from flint the rude weapons of war and the chase, the 
pipe and hatchet of stone ; and here, upon the other hand, is a mansion presenting 
good specimens of modern architecture. Commerce has brought the materials for 
its chimney-pieces from the quarries of Italy, and skill and genius have chiselled and 
given to them a mirror-like polish. Here in the midst of relics of another age, and 
of occupants of whom we know nothing beyond these evidences of their existence, 
are choice fruits, ornamental shrubbery, and gravelled walks. 

Directly opposite this mound upon the point formed by the junction of Tona- 
wanda Creek with the Niagara River there would seem to have been an ancient 
armory, and upon no small scale. There is intermingled with at least an acre of 
earth, chips of flint, refuse pieces, and imperfect arrows that were broken in process 
of manufacture. In the early cultivation of the ground, the plough would occa- 
sionally strike spots where these chips and pieces of arrows predominated over the 
natural soil. 

On the north side of the Little Buffalo Creek, in the town of Lancaster, Erie 
County, there is an ancient work upon a bluff, about thirty feet above the level of 
the stream. A circular embankment incloses an acre. Thirty years ago, this 
embankment was nearly breast high to a man of ordinary height. There were five 
gate-ways distinctly marked. A pine tree of the largest class in our forest, grew 
directly in one of the gate-ways. It was adjudged (at the period named), by prac- 
tical lumbermen, to be five hundred years old. Nearly opposite, a small stream 
puts into the Little Buffalo. Upon the point formed by the junction of the two 
streams, a mound extends across from one to the other, as if to inclose or fortify 
the point. In modern military practice, strong fortifications are invested sometimes 
by setting an army down before them and throwing up breast-works. May not 
this smaller work bear a similar relation to the larger one? 

About one and a half miles west of Shelby Centre, Orleans County, is an 
ancient work. A broad ditch incloses, in a form nearly circular, about three acres 
of land. The ditch is at this day well defined, several feet deep. Adjoining the 
spot on the south, is a swamp about one mile in width by two in length. This 

Note. — The title of this chapter would confine these notices to Holland Purchase. The author 
has gone a short distance beyond his bounds, to include a well-defined specimen of these ancient 
works. 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 41 

swamp was once, doubtless, if not a lake an impassable morass. From the interior 
of the inclosure made by the ditch, there is what appears to have been a passage- 
way on the side next to the swamp. No other breach occurs in the entire circuit of 
the' embankment. There are accumulated within and near this fort large piles of 
small stones of a size convenient to be thrown by the hand or with a sling.* Ar- 
row-heads of flint are found in and near the inclosure, in great abundance, stone 
axes, etc. Trees of four hundred years' growth stand upon the embankment, and 
underneath them have been found earthen ware, pieces of plates or dishes, wrought 
with skill, presenting ornaments in relief, of various patterns. Some skeletons 
almost entire have been exhumed ; many of giant size, not less than seven to eight 
feet in length. The skulls are large and well developed in the anterior lobe, broad 
between the ears, and flattened in the coronal region. Half a mile west of the fort 
is a sand hill. Here a large number of human skeletons have been exhumed, in a 
perfect state. Great numbers appeared to have been buried in the same grave. 
Many of the skulls appear to have been broken in with clubs or stones. " This," 
says S. M. Burroughs, Esq., of Medina (to whom the author is indebted for the 
description), " was doubtless the spot where a great battle had been fought. Were 
not these people a branch of the Aztecs? The earthen ware found here seems to 
indicate a knowledge of the arts known to that once powerful nation." 

The Rev. Samuel Kirklandf visited and described several of these remains west 
of the Genesee River, in the year 1788. At that early period, before they had been 
disturbed by the antiquarian, the plough, or the harrow, they must have been much 
more perfect and better defined than now. Mr. Kirkland says in his journal, that 
after leaving " Kanawageas," | he travelled twenty-six miles and encamped for the 
night at a place called u Joaki,"§ on the river " Tonawanda." Six miles from the 
place of encampment, he rode to the " open fields." || Here he " walked out about 
half a mile with one of the Seneca chiefs to view" the remains which he thus 
describes : 

" This place is called by the Senecas Tegatainasghque, which imports a doubly 
fortified town, or a town with a fort at each end. Here are the vestiges of two 
forts; the one contains about four acres of ground; the other, distant from this 

* These piles of small stones are frequently spoken of in connection with these works, by those 
who saw them at an early period of white settlement. 

f Mr. K. was the pioneer Protestant Missionary among the Iroquois. The Rev. Dr. Wneelock, 
of Lebanon, Ct., who was his early tutor, in one of his letters to the Countess of Huntingdon, in 
1765 says-— "A young Englishman, whom I sent last fall to winter with the numerous and savage 
tribes of the Senecas, in order to learn their language, and fit him for a mission among them ; where 
no missionary has hitherto dared to venture. This bold adventure of his, which under all the cir- 
cumstances of it is the most extraordinary of the kind I have ever known, has been attended with 
abundant evidence of a divine blessing." Connected as was the subject of this eulogy with other 
branches of our local history, he will be frequently referred to in the course of this work. 

i Avon. , , . 

£ Batavia, or the "Great Bend of the Tonnewanta," as it was uniformly called by the early 
travellers on the trail from Tioga Point to Fort Niagara and Canada. <£W See account of Indian 
Trails. Batavia was favored with several Indian names. In Seneca, the one used by Mr. k. would 
be Raccoon. 

II The openings, as they are termed, in the towns of Elba and Alabama ; lying on either side of 
the Batavia and Lockport road, but chiefly between that road and the Tonawanda Creek. The 
antiquarian who goes in search of the ancient Tegatainasghque, will be likely to divide his attention 
between old and new things. It was a part of Tonawanda Indian Reservation. About twenty-five 
years since, it was sold to the Ogden Company ; and the ancient "open fields" now present a broad 
expanse of wheat fields, interspersed with farm buildings that give evidence of the elements of 
wealth that have been found in the soil. 
6 



42 COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

about two miles, and situated at the other extremity of the ancient town, incloses 
twice that quantity. The ditch around the former (which I particularly examined) 
is about five or six feet deep. A small stream of living water, with a high bank, 
circumscribed nearly one third of the inclosed ground. There were traces of six 
gates, or avenues, around the ditch, and a dug-way near the works to the water. 
The ground on the opposite side of the water was in some places nearly as high as 
that on which they built the fort, which might make it necessary for this covered 
wav to the water. A considerable number of large, thrifty oaks have grown up 
within the inclosed grounds, both in and upon the ditch ; some of them, at least, 
appeared to be two hundred years old, or more. The ground is of a hard gravelly 
kind, intermixed with loam, and more plentifully at the brow of the hill. In some 
places, at the bottom of the ditch, I could run my cane a foot or more into the 
ground; so that probably the ditch was much deeper in its original state than it 
appears to be now. Near the northern fortification, which is situated on high 
ground, are the remains of a funeral pile. The earth is raised about six feet above 
the common surface, and betwixt twenty and thirty feet in diameter. From the best 
information I can get of the Indian historians, these forts were made previous to the 
Senecas being admitted into the confederacy of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, 
and Cayugas, and when the former were at war with the Mississaugas and other 
Indians around the great lakes. This must have been nearly three hundred years ago, 
if not more, by many concurring accounts which I have obtained from different 
Indians of several different tribes. Indian tradition says also that these works were 
raised, and a famous battle fought here, in the pure Indian style and with Indian 
weapons, long before their knowledge and use of fire-arms or any knowledge of the 
Europeans. These nations at that time used, in fighting, bows and arrows, the spear 
or javelin, pointed with bone, and the war-club or death-mall. When the former 
were expended, they came into close engagement in using the latter. Their 
warrior's dress or coat of mail for this method of fighting was a short jacket made 
of willow sticks, or moon wood, and laced tight around the body; the head covered 
with a cap of the same kind, but commonly worn double for the better security of 
that part against a stroke from the war-club. In the great battle fought at this place, 
between the Senecas and Western Indians, some affirm their ancestors have told 
them there were eight hundred of their enemies slain ; others include the killed on 
both sides to make that number. All their historians agree in this, that the battle 
was fought here, where the heaps of slain are buried, before the arrival of the 
Europeans ; some say three, some say four, others five ages ago ; they reckon an 
age one hundred winters or colds. I would further remark upon this subject that 
there are vestiges of ancient fortified towns in various parts, throughout the exten- 
sive territory of the Six Nations. I find also, by constant inquiry, that a tradition 
prevails among the Indians in general that all Indians came from the West. I have 
wished for an opportunity to pursue this inquiry with the more remote tribes of In- 
dians, to satisfy myself, at least, if it be their universal opinion. 

" On the south side of Lake Erie are a series of old fortifications, from Catta- 
raugus Creek to the Pennsylvania line, a distance of fifty miles. Some are from two 
to four miles apart, others half a mile only. Some contain five acres. The walls or 
breastworks are of earth, and are generally on grounds where there are appearances 

Note. — The traditions given to Mr. Kirkland at so early a period are added to his account of 
the old forts, to be taken in connection with adverse theories and conclusions upon the same point. 
As has before been observed, many of the Senecas who have since been consulted, do not pretend to 
any satisfactory knowledge upon the subjects. 



COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 43 

of creeks having flowed into the lake, or where there was a bay. Further south 
there is said to be another chain parallel with the first, about equi-distant from the 
lake." 

" These remains of art may be viewed as connecting links of a great chain, 
wbicli extends beyond the confines of our State, and becomes more magnificent and 
curious as we recede from the northern lakes, pass through Ohio into the great val- 
ley of the Mississippi, thence to the Gulf of Mexico through Texas into New Mexico 
and South America. In this vast range of more than three thousand miles these 
monuments of ancient skill gradually become more remarkable for their number, 
magnitude, and interesting variety, until we are lost in admiration and astonishment, 
to find, as Baron Humboldt informs us, in a world which we call new, ancient institu- 
tions, religious ideas, and forms of edifices similar to those of Asia, which there seem 
to go back to the dawn of civilization." 

" Over the great secondary region of the Ohio are the ruins of what once were 
forts, cemeteries, temples, altars, camps, towns, villages; race-grounds and other 
places of amusement, habitations of chieftains, videttes, watch-towers, and monu- 
ments." 

" It is," says Mr. Atwater,* " nothing but one vast cemetery of the beings of past 
ages. Man and his works, the mammoth, tropical animals, the cassia tree and other 
tropical plants, are here reposing together in the same formation. By what catastro- 
phe they were overwhelmed and buried in the same strata it would be impossible to 
say, unless it was that of the general deluge." 

" In the valley of the Mississippi the monuments of buried nations are unsur- 
passed in magnitude and melancholy grandeur by any in North America. Here 
cities have been traced similar to those of Ancient Mexico, once containing hun- 
dreds of thousands of souls. Here are to be seen thousands of tumuli, some a hun- 
dred feet high, others many hundred feet in circumference, the places of their wor- 
ship, their sepulchre, and perhaps of their defence. Similar mounds are scattered 
throughout the continent, from the shores of the Pacific into the interior of our 
State as far as Black River, and from the Lakes to South America."! 

So much for all we can see or know of our ancient predecessors. The whole 
subject is but incidental to the main purposes of local history. The reader who 
wishes to pursue it further will be assisted in his inquiries by a perusal of Mr. 
Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois. But the mystery of this pre-occupancy is far 
from being satisfactorily explained. It is an interesting, fruitful source of theories, 
inquiry, and speculation. 

* Atwater's Antiquities of the West. 

f Yates and Moulton's History of New York. 



44 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 



THE IROQUOIS, OR FIVE NATIONS.* 

Emerging from a region of doubt and conjecture, we arrive at another branch 
of local history, replete with interest — less obscure — though upon its threshold we 
feel the want of reliable data, the lights that guide us in tracing the history of those 
who have written records. 

The Seneca Indians were our immediate predecessors — the pre-occupants from 
whom the title of the Holland Purchase was derived. They were the Fifth Nation 
of a Confederacy, termed by themselves Mingoes, as inferred by Mr. Clinton, Ho- 
de-no-sau-nee,f as inferred by other writers; the Confederates, by the English; the 
Maquaws, by the Dutch; the Massowamacs, by the Southern Indians; die IRO- 
QUOIS, by the French, by which last name they are now usually designated, in 
speaking or writing of the distinct branches of the Aborigines of the United States. 

The original Confederates were the Mohawks, having their principal abode 
upon that river ; the Oneidas, upon the southern shore of Oneida Lake ; the Cayu- 
gas, near Cayuga Lake; the Senecas, upon Seneca Lake and the Genesee River. 
Those localities were their principal seats, or the places of their council-fires. They 
may be said generally to have occupied in detached towns and villages the whole of 
this State, from the Hudson to the Niagara River, now embraced in the counties of 
Schenectady, Schoharie, Montgomery, Fulton, Herkimer, Oneida, Madison, Onon- 
daga, Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, Genesee, Wyoming, Monroe, 
Orleans, Niagara, Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Alleghany, Steuben, and Yates. 
A narrower limit of their dwelling places, the author is aware, has been usually 
designated; but in reference to the period of the first European advent among 
them — 1678 — it is to be inferred that their habitations were thus extended, not only 
from the traces of their dwellings, and the relics of their rude cultivation of the soil, 
but from the records of the early Jesuit Missionaries. Their missions were at differ- 
ent periods extended from the Hudson to the Niagara River, and each one of them 
would seem to have had several villages in its vicinity. Each of the Five Nations 
undoubtedly had a principal seat. They were as indicated by their names. And 
each had its tributary villages, extended as has been assumed. It was plainlv a 
coming together from separate localities — a gathering of clansmen — to resist the in- 
vasion of De Nonville; and it is to be inferred from the journal of Father Henne- 
pin that there were villages of the " Iroquois Senecas" in the neighborhood of La 
Salle's ship-yard on the Niagara River, and the primitive garrison, or "palisade," at 
its mouth. The missionaries who went out from the "place of ship building," and 
from the " Fort at Niagara," from time to time, upon apparently short excursions, 
visited different villages. The Jesuit Missions upon the Mohawk, and at Onondaga, 
would seem to have been visited, each by the inhabitants of several villages. The 
author rejects the conclusion that the Tonawanda and the Buffalo Indian villages 
were not founded until after the expedition of General Sullivan ; and concludes 
that these and other settlements of the Iroquois existed prior to the European ad- 
vent, west of the Genesee River. While some of the Seneca Indians assume the first 

* The " Five" Nations, at the period of our earliest knowledge of them— the " Six" Nations after 
the}- had adopted the Tuscaroras, in 1712. 

f "The People of the Long House," from the circumstance that they likened their political 
structure to a long tenement or dwelling. 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 45 

position, others, equally intelligent, and as well instructed in their traditions, do not 
pretend to thus limit the period of settlement at these points. 

Their actual dominion had a far wider range. The Five Nations claimed "all 
the land not sold to the English, from the mouth of Sorrel River, on the south side 
of Lakes Erie and Ontario, on both sides of the Ohio, till it falls into the Mississippi; 
and on the north side of these lakes that whole territory between the Ottawa River 
and Lake Huron, and even beyond the straits between that and Lake Erie."* And 
in another place the same author says : " When the Dutch began the settlement of 
this country, all the Indians on Long Island, and the northern shores of the Sound, 
on the banks of the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehannah Rivers, 
were in subjection to the Five Nations, and acknowledged it by paying tribute. The 
French historians of Canada, both ancient and modern, agree that the more northern 
Indians were driven before the superior martial prowess of the Confederates." 
"The Ho-de-no-sau-nee occupied our precise territory, and their council-fires 
burned continually from the Hudson to the Niagara. Our old forests have rung 
with their war shouts, and been enlivened with their festivals of peace. Their 
feathered bands, their eloquence, their deeds of valor, have had their time and place. 
In their progressive course they had stretched around the half of our republic, and 
rendered their name a terror nearly from ocean to ocean ; when the advent of the 
Saxon race arrested their career, and prepared the w r ay for the destruction of the 
Long House, and the final extinguishment of the Council-Fires of the Confederacy." f 
" At one period we hear the sound of their war-cry along the Straits of the St. 
Mary's, and at the foot of Lake Superior. At another, under the walls of Quebec, 
where they finally defeated the Hurons, under the eyes of the French. They put 
out the fires of the Gah-kwas and Eries. They eradicated the Susquehannocks. 
They placed the Lenapes, the Nanticokes, and the Munsees under the yoke of sub- 
jection. They put the Metoacks and Manhattans under tribute. They spread the 
terror of their arms over all New England. They traversed the whole length of 
the Appalachian Chain, and descended like the enraged yagisho and megalonyx, on 
the Cherokees and Catawbas. Smith encountered their warriors in the settlement 
of Virginia, and La Salle on the discover)- of the Illinois." \ " The immediate 
dominion of the Iroquois — when the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and 
Senecas were first visited by the trader, the missionary, or the war parties of the 
French — stretched, as we have seen, from the borders of Vermont to Western New 
York, from the Lakes to the head waters of the Ohio, the Susquehanna and the 
Delaware. The number of their warriors was declared by the French in 1660, to 
have been two thousand two hundred ; and in 1677, an English agent sent on purpose 
to ascertain their strength, confirmed the precision of the statement. Their geo- 
graphical position made them umpires in the contest of the French for dominion in 
the west. Besides, their political importance was increased by their conquests. Not 
only did they claim some supremacy in Northern New England as far as the Ken- 
nebec, and to the south as far as New Haven, and were acknowledged as absolute 
lords over the conquered Lenappe — the peninsula of Upper Canada was their hunt- 
ing field by right of war; they had exterminated the Eries and Andastes, both tribes 
of their own family, the one dwelling on the south-eastern banks of Lake Erie, the 
other on the head waters of the Ohio; they had triumphantly invaded the tribes of 

* Smith's History of New York. 

f Letters on the Iroquois, by Shenandoah in American Review. 

\ Schoolcraft. 



46 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

the west as far as Illinois ; their warriors had reached the soil of Kentucky and 
Western Virginia; and England, to whose alliance they steadily inclined, availed 
itself of their treaties for the cession of territories, to encroach even on the empire 
of France in America." * 



NEW YORK STATE. 

" The Empire State" is one of the Middle States of the Atlantic slope and of 
the original thirteen of the revolutionary confederation, extending from the parallel 
of 40 29' 40" to 45 o' 42" N. lat., and between the meridians of 7 1° 51' and 79 45' 
54.4" W. long, from Greenwich. The State is nearly triangular in shape, aside from 
Long Island, which stretches east for 116 miles. It is bounded on the N. and N. 
W. by the Dominion of Canada, partly separated from it by the St. Lawrence River, 
Lake Ontario, Niagara River, and Lake Erie; also on the North by Long Island Sound, 
which washes the N. shore of Long Island, and the Atlantic Ocean ; East by Vermont, 
from which Lake Champlain partly separates it, by Massachusetts and Connecticut, 
the Lower New York Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean ; S. by the Atlantic, the lower Bay 
and the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania ; and W. and N. W. by Pennsylvania, 
Lakes Erie and Ontario, and NiagaraRiver, which divide it from the Dominion of 
Canada. Its greatest length from N. to S. is 31 if miles; its greatest breadth from 
E. to W., including Long Island, is 412 miles. Its area is 47,000 sq. m., or 30,080,000 
acres, including its share of the great Lakes — 45,658 sq. m. without them. 

The surface of New York is greatly diversified. It has numerous chains of hills 
and mountains, many beautiful valleys, much rolling land, and extended plains. 
For topographical purposes it is divided into three sections of unequal size by the 
deep depression of Lakes Champlain and George and the Hudson River, and by the 
narrower valley at right angles with this, through which the Mohawk flows, which 
furnishes the natural route for the Erie Canal. These sections are, E of the 
Hudson, N. and S. of the Mohawk and Erie Canal, designated as E., N., and S. sec- 
tions. E. of the Hudson is a continuation of the Green and Hoosac ranges south- 
ward, reaching the Hudson in Putnam County, opposite West Point, reappearing on 
the W. side of the river as the Kittatinny Mountains. The northern section has 6 
distinct parallel ranges of mountains, besides two ridges of lower altitude. These 
ranges all trend from N. E. to S. W., and, at their eastern terminii, either on Lake 
Champlain, Lake George, or St. Lawrence River or its tributaries. They are, 
beginning at the S. E. : (1) the Palmertown range, from the vicinity of Whitehall S. 
W. to the lower part of Saratoga County. (2) The Kayaderosseras or Luzerne 
Mountains, beginning at Ticonderoga, passing along the W. side of Lake George 
through Warren and Saratoga counties, to Montgomery County. (3) The Clinton 
or Adirondack range, proper, beginning at Point Trembleau on Lake Champlain, 
passing through Essex, Warren, Saratoga, Hamilton, Fulton, and Montgomery 
counties to the Mohawk River. This range contains the highest peaks in the State — 
Mount Marcy or Tahawas, whose height is variously stated at from 5378 to 5466 
feet; Dix Peak, 5200 feet; Mount Mclntyre, 5183 feet; Sandanoni and Mount 

* Bancroft's History of the United States. 



comley's history of the state of NEW YORK. 47 

McMartin, each about 5000 feet; Dial Mountain, about 4900 feet. It also forms 
the watershed between the tributaries of the St. Lawrence and those of the Hudson 
and Mohawk. (4) The An Sable or Peru range, beginning still higher on Lake 
Champlain, near the mouth of An Sable River, and trending S. W. through Essex, 
Hamilton, and Fulton counties into Montgomery. White Face is the highest moun- 
tain of this range, its altitude being 4854 feet, while Mount Pharaoh and Taylor arc 
each about 4500 feet. (5) The Chateaugay range commences near the northern 
extremity of Lake Champlain in Canada, passes through Clinton, Franklin, and 
Hamilton counties to Herkimer County and the Mohawk River. It maintains an 
average height of about 2000 feet through its whole course, while Mount Seward is 
5100 feet, and several of its summits approach 4000 feet in height. (6) The St. Law- 
rence range, parallel with the last, and about 10 or 12 miles N. of it, follows the 
course of the southern shore of the St. Lawrence. The broad plateau known as the 
Highlands of Black River is about 60 miles in length and from 1250 to 1650 feet in 
height. 

"Between the Highlands and the Mohawk lies a ridge about 20 miles long, 
nearly 9 miles broad at its base, having a general elevation of 800 or 900 feet, known 
as Hassencleaver Ridge. The section S. and S. W. of the Mohawk and the Hudson 
may be divided into two sub-sections — the eastern, which includes three distinct ranges 
of mountains : viz., (1) the Highlands of Orange and Rockland counties, having a gen- 
eral N. E. direction and coming to the W. shore of the Hudson ; (2) back of these, the 
Shawangunk Mountains, skirting the valley of the Rondout ; (3) and most consider- 
able, the Kaatsbergar Catskills, called the Helderberg Mountains near Mohawk. 
The Catskills are rather a group of mountains than a chain. They cover a region 
more than 500 square miles, having between 30 and 40 peaks, the most celebrated of 
which are Round Top, High Peak, Black Head, Overlook, and Pine Orchard, which 
range from 2900 to 3800 feet in height. The Helderbcrgs are not so high. The Shawan- 
gunk summits do not rise more than 2000 feet, and the Highlands range from 1000 to 
1650 feet. S. W. of these, in Sullivan and Delaware counties, the Blue Mountains take 
their rise. Near their junction with the Kaatsbergs they rise to 2700 or 2800 feet, but 
elsewhere not above 1400 to 1600 feet. The western sub-section of this southern 
section is composed of a series of terrace plateaus rising from the shore of Lake 
Ontario, first, to the Ridge Road — supposed to have been the ancient southern shore 
of Lake Ontario, now 300 feet above it ; this terrace extends from the Genesee to the 
Niagara above the Falls ; second, from the Ridge Road to the falls of the Genesee 
at Nunda and Portageville, where they meet an abrupt wall of rock about 300 
feet in height, and the entire height is over 900 feet ; from this point there is a gra- 
dual ascent to the summit level from 1500 to 2000 feet in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Al- 
leghany, and Steuben counties, the water-courses having eroded the limestones, through 
which they passed, at numerous points, making picturesque waterfalls, some of them 
of enormous height— the Taghkanic and Watkins Glen falls, for instance. The 
greater portion of these terraces are fertile and beautiful plains. The valleys of the 
"Mohawk, of the Upper Hudson, and of the Delaware, Susquehanna, etc., are also 
very picturesque and fertile. 

Rivers, Lakes, Bays, etc. — The Hudson River is the largest river. It is navi- 
gable to Troy, nearly 160 miles. It has many tributaries, of which the Mohawk is 
the most important. The others are Schroon, Hoosick, Battenkill, Kinderhook, and 
Croton on the E. ; Wallkill, Rondout, Esopus, Kaateskill, and Sacandaga on the W. 
The Chazy and Saranac are the largest streams flowing into Lake Champlain. St. 
Lawrence River washes the northern boundary of the State for 100 miles, and has 



48 comley's htstory of the state OF NEW YORK. 

several important aids from the State, among which are the Oswegatchie, Indian, 
Grasse, Racket, St. Regis, and Salmon. Oswego River — the original outlet of the 
lakes in Central New York, and, in connection with the Oswego Canal and River im- 
provement, navigable for canal-boats and steamers for 118 miles — Black River, and 
the Genesee flow into Lake Ontario, the last furnishing great water-power and being 
the outlet of four or five small lakes; Niagara River, connecting Lake Erie and 
Ontario ; the Alleghany, one of the constituents of the Ohio River, has a course of 
nearly 50 miles in the State; the Susquehanna, with its tributaries, the Tioga and 
Chenango; and the Delaware, with its E. and W. branches, and its affluents, the 
Little Delaware, Mongaup, and Neversink, are the more important of the other 
rivers which drain the State. It is stated that there are 281 miles of river navigation 
for steam crafts in the State. 

Lakes. — The State is somewhat remarkable for its lakes, many of which are 
navigable, there being 350 miles in length of lake navigation; the eastern end of 
Lake Erie, one half of Lake Ontario, and one half of Lake Champlain belonging to 
New York. In the N. E., Lake George, Schroon Lake, and nearly 200 smaller lakes, in 
Warren, Essex, and Hamilton counties, add beauty to the landscape. In Central New 
York there are three groups of lakes, the eastern consisting of Otsego, Schuyler, 
Cazenovia, and Summit. Farther W. commences a chain consisting of Oneida, 
Onondaga, Otisco, Cross, Skaneateles, Cayuga, Seneca, Crooked or Keuka, and Canan- 
daigua lakes. Still further W. is another chain of lakes, Owasco, Honeoye, Canadice, 
Conesus, and Silver Lake. In the S. W. corner of the State lies Chautauqua Lake. 
There are numerous smaller ones in the S. E. counties, and two or three on Long 
Island. A remarkable feature of the natural scenery of New York is its waterfalls. 
The Falls of Niagara beggar description, and those of Trenton, the Watkins 
Glen, the Taghkanic, and the numerous falls near Ithaca are equally noteworthy for 
their kind. The falls of the Genesee at Rochester, and the High Falls in the same 
river at Portage, the falls at Ticonderoga, and those in the Adirondacks, are ver}- 
romantic. 

Islands. — The most important islands are Manhattan, Long, and Staten Islands; 
numerous smaller ones surround these, as Randall's, Ward's, Blackwell's, Governor's, 
Bedloe's, and David's, around New York; Coney Island, Fire Island, Shelter Island, 
and a great number of islands in Long Island Sound. There are numerous small 
islands in the Hudson River; nearl} r 1500 in the St. Lawrence, one half of which 
belong to New York ; many in Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain ; and about 400 
in Lake George. 

Bays, Sounds, etc.— The bay belonging to Long Island has been described. 
The lower and upper New York bays form one of the finest approaches to a great 
harbor in the world. Staten Island Sound is rather a strait than a sound, as is also the 
East River, but Long Island Sound beyond it is almost an inland sea. The Hudson 
River forms a broad expanse near Haverstraw, known as the Tappan Zee. There 
are several small bays and harbors on the New York coast of Lake Ontario, and 
Buffalo and Black Rock harbors on Lake Erie. 

Geology and Mineralogy. — The geology of New York is peculiar. While in 
some parts of the State nearly every class formation is found, from the lowest Eozoic 
rocks to the recent alluvium, the whole Carboniferous era, as well as the upper 
members of the Devonian and the Permian and Jurassic formations, have no place 
whatever in its geology, and very little of the Lower Tertiary deposits occurs. 
There are traces of anthracite coal, an inch or two in thickness, found between the 
strata of older rock, but nowhere is there evidence of the existence of the coal- 



comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 



49 



measures. The following table gives the various formations of the State in their 
order : 

Quaternary Alluvium, marsh-mud, and sand. 

( Drift. 

Tertiary ■] Pleistocene, boulders, clays, and sand. 

( New red sandstone. 

Cretaceous Lower Cretaceous, mostly on N. shore of Long Island 

Old red sandstone. 

Catskill group, conglomerates of theCatskill. 

( Portage sandstone. 
Portage group •< Gardeau flagstone. 

( Coshaqua shales. 
Genesee slate. 
Trully limestone. 



Devonian. 



Hamilton group 



( Moscow shales. 



Upper Silurian. 



f 



Middle Silurian. 



Lower Silurian. 



■« Encrinal limestone. 
( Ludlow shales. 
Marcellus shales. 
Corniferous limestone. 
Onondaga limestone. 
Schoharie grit. 
Cauda-Galli grit. 
Oriskany sandstone. 
Upper pentamerous limestone. 
Delthyris shaly limestone. 
Pentamerous limestone. 
Tentaculite limestone. 
Water-lime group. 

( Gypsum. 
Onondaga salt group -< Green shales. 

( Red shales. 
Niagara group, coralline limestone. 
Clinton group. 
Median sandstone. 

Oneida conglomerate, Shawangunk grit. 
Hudson River group. 
Utica slate. 
Trenton limestone. 
Black River limestone. 
Birdseye limestone. 
Chazy limestone. 

Quebec group, including roofing-slate. 
Calciferous sandstone. 
Potsdam sandstone. 
f Huronian rocks, specular ore beds of St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties. 

Eozoic -< Granite, gneiss, hypersthene. 

Volcanic and metamorphic rocks, Palisades, etc., trap and porphyry. 

With a few words on the distribution of these formations, we must refer our 
readers to the elaborate treatises on New York geology. The Eozoic rocks are found 
in the S. E. portion of the State, in a part of Rockland, Putnam, Westchester, and 
New York counties, and occupy a large tract in the N. E. of the State, including a part 
of Clinton and Franklin, the whole of Essex, Warren, and Hamilton, the greater 
part of Herkimer, and a part of Lewis, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Fulton, Saratoga, 
and Washington counties. The Potsdam sandstone occupies a narrow belt imme- 
diately N. of this Eozoic region, and also a small tract in Jefferson County. The 
Lower Silurian groups — the Calciferous sandrock, Quebec group, and Chazy lime- 
stone — are found along the W. shore of Lake Champlain, the S. shore of the St. 
Lawrence to a point a few miles above Ogdensburg, and the region E. of the 
Hudson from Whitehall to Putnam County, and there, crossing the Hudson, reap- 
pear in Orange County. The Lower Silurian — Birdseye, Black River, and Trenton 

7 



50 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

limestone — occupy more than one half of Jefferson County, and thence extend in 
a narrow belt around the lower edge of the great Eozoic tract already described. 
The Utica and Lorraine slates occupy the region between the last formations and 
the Mohawk River to Utica, and thence both sides of the Mohawk and the W. side 
of the Hudson as far N. as Sandy Hill, and S. to a short distance above Pough- 
keepsie, where they turn W. in a broad belt into Orange County. The Oneida 
conglomerate and Medina sandstone of the Middle Silurian are found from Oneida 
Lake on the E., along the S. shore of Lake Ontario to the Canada line, extending 
in breadth to the Ridge Road. S. of this, and parallel with it in a narrow belt, the 
Clinton and Niagara groups extend E. to Schoharie, and the Onondaga salt group 
follows in a more irregular but somewhat wider belt. The four lower groups of 
Devonian — Lower Helderberg, Oriskany sandstone, Cauda-Galli grit, and Upper 
Helderberg— are found in a band not more than five miles wide, extending from 
Buffalo to Albany County, and thence S. W. to Delaware River at Port Jervis; 
and immediately S of this the Marcellus shales, Hamilton group, and Genesee 
slate occupy a broader and irregular belt, dipping S. around the shores of the 
Central New York lakes through Madison, Otsego, and Schoharie counties, and, like 
the preceding, turning S..W. till they reach the Pennsylvania line. S. of this the whole 
southern tier of counties belongs to the Portage and Chemung groups, except a few 
outcrops of the Catskill red sandstone. The New Red sandstone only makes its 
appearance in the S. part of Rockland County, and as it approaches the Hudson River, 
the trap porphyry which constitutes the Palisades has forced its way through it. 
The Cretaceous formations come to the surface only on the northern shore of Long 
Island, while Drift and Alluvium overlie the other formations in much of the State. 

Minerals. — The most important of these is iron, of which there are magnetic, 
red and brown hematite, specular, and bog-iron ores, and, in Dutchess, Essex, and 
Clinton counties, carburet of iron or plumbago. Galena or lead ore is found in St. 
Lawrence and other counties in large quantities. Zinc, copper, arsenic, manganese, 
barytes, strontian, and alum occur in various parts of the State, but do not possess 
much economic value. Salt springs, from which a vast amount of salt is made, 
occur along the line of the Onondaga salt group, especially in Onondaga County. 
Gypsum and waterlime accompany them. 

The State abounds in building material ; its granite, white and colored marbles, 
Potsdam and Medina sandstone, and gray and blue limestone, as well as its excel- 
lent clay and sand for brick, furnish a sufficiency of material for its dwellings; but 
while it exports some of these, it imports more from other States and countries. Its 
quarries furnish also large quantities of slate, and flagging-stones and trap-rock for 
paving purposes. Serpentine, soapstone, talc, asbestos, amianthus, magnesia in 
several forms, are among the minerals of merely scientific value. The State has 
numerous mineral springs of high repute, the chalybeate and saline at Saratoga, 
sulphur in Madison and Monroe counties, acid in Genesee and Orleans, those 
evolving nitrogen gas, as in Columbia, Rensselaer, and Seneca counties, and those 
possessing magnetic or electrical qualities, as in Tompkins County. In Chautauqua, 
Dutchess, Oneida, and Monroe counties are illuminating gas-springs. Fredonia, in 
Chautauqua County, has utilized this gas for lighting its streets and dwellings, and 
the lighthouse at Barcelona, in the same county, is illuminated by it. 

Soil and Vegetation. — Notwithstanding the mountainous and broken char- 
acter of much of its surface, the greater part of the soil of New York is arable, and 
some of it very fertile. Most of the mountainous districts are fine grazing lands, 
and yield the best milk, butter, and cheese. The plains and valleys are adapted to 
the culture of cereals, and the north and north-western counties to root crops. 
Oneida, Madison, Otsego, and a part of Chenango are engaged in hop-culture. 
Tobacco is cultivated in several counties, grapes on the islands of the Hudson, and 



COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 5 I 

on the shores of the Central New York lakes, and Indian corn in most every part of 
the State. Market gardening is extensively practised in the vicinity of the large 
cities, and great quantities of fruit are grown in the central counties. The forest 
trees of the State present a great variety, and a few years ago nearly one half the 
area of the State was covered with forests ; but the great demand for timber, lumber, 
and hemlock and oak bark, for building ships, houses, railroads, and for tanning 
purposes, has much reduced the forest area. The State has ten genera of the 
pine family, including the hemlock, balsam, fir, black and white spruce, and tama- 
rack, and the allied species of red and white cedar, arbor vitae, and Canada yew. 
There are ten species of oak, of which the white oak is the most valuable and the 
most abundant, three species of elm, three of ash, five of maple, the sugar maple 
being the most plentiful ; the black walnut and butternut, and four species of 
hickory, the beach, chestnut, three species of birch, the sycamore, several species of 
poplar, numerous willows, the robinia or locust, the tulip tree or whitewood, the 
linden or basswood, the ironwood or hop-hornbeam, the ailantus and its cousins, 
the sumachs; the magnolia g/auca, the cornel or dogwood, and various alders, the 
buttonbush, the shadbush, and spicewood, are the principal other forest growths. 

Zoology. — The State, in its geological and natural history survey, ordered in 
1836, including the geology, mineralogy, palaeontology, agriculture, botany, and 
zoology of the entire State, and the results were given in a series of magnificent 
quarto volumes fully illustrated, of which twenty-two have been published, and 
others are yet to come. The zoology occupies five volumes. According to this 
work, there are among the mammals one species of opossum, 5 bats, 2 moles, 6 
shrews, the black bear, raccoon, wolverine, skunk, fisher, Pennant's marten, pine 
marten, 2 weasels, the ermine weasel or stoat, the mink, the otter; 30 varieties of 
dogs, 5 of them native; 2 species of wolf, the gray and black, the panther, Canada 
lynx, wild cat or bay lynx, the seal, hooded seal, and walrus. Of rodents, there are 
the gray fox, the red or common fox ; four species of squirrel, the woodchuck, 
the Labrador rat, the beaver, muskrat, porcupine, the Norway or brown rat, two 
species of black rat, eight species of mice, the gray rabbit, the prairie hare. Of 
hoofed animals, besides the domestic animals, there are the fallow deer, the elk, 
moose, stag, and reindeer. There are 9 cetaceans in the waters of the State — 6 
whales, 2 porpoises, and the grampus. The number of fossil mammals is in- 
creasing bv frequent discoveries. Three of the elephant family have been found 
in the State — the original fossil elephant, the American elephant, and the masto- 
don ; of the latter, nearly twenty skeletons, more or less perfect, have been 
exhumed. Fossil skeletons of several other animals occur. Six orders of birds 
are found in the State : birds of prey, birds of passage, the cock tribe, waders, 
lobe-footed birds, and swimmers. Of the birds of prey,|there are 3 families 
and 26 species; of the birds of passage, 20 families and 146 species; of the 
Gallinae or cock tribe, 20 families and only 6 species of undomesticated birds; 
of the waders, 7 families and 57 species; of the lobe-footed tribe, 1 family and 
5 species ; of the swimmers, 6 families and 65 species. There are 3 orders of 
reptiles: the turtle, lizard, and serpent tribes. There are 17 species of turtles, 
tortoises, and terrapins, 2 of lizards, and 2 venomous and 17 or 18 harmless 
serpents. Of the amphibia or batrachians there are 4 families: the frog tribe, 
comprising 12 species; the salamander tribe, of which there are also 12 species; the 
triton tribe, 4 species; and the proteus tribe, 2 species. The number of fishes is 
very large. The bony and cartilaginous fishes are both represented, the first by 6 
orders and the second by 3. Of the first there are 28 families and about 270 
species. Of the second, there are 4 families and over 30 species. The crus- 
taceans, including 10 orders, and about 60 species. Of mollusks there are 6 
orders, and a large number of species, many of them edible. 

The mean temperature of the State, derived from about 1500 observations 



52 



COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



at 59 localities in the State, is 46 49'; the mean annual maximum of heat, froiy 
the same number of observations, is 92 ; the mean annual minimum is — 12 ; the 
annual range of the thermometer is 104 . The average date when robins were first 
seen, from 266 observations, was March 19th; the shadbush commenced blooming 
.May 1st; peaches in bloom (southern and middle portions of the State, only 175 
observations) May 2d ; currants, plums, cherries, apples, and lilacs in bloom in this 
order from May 4th to May 15th ; strawberries ripe, June 9th to 12th; hay harvest 
commences (average of the State) July 8th ; wheat harvest commences July 25th ; 
first killing frost (471 observations), September 23d; first fall of snow (536 ob- 
servations), November 5th. The climate is generally healthy; the death-rate even 
in the large cities, is below the average of the country. Diseases of the throat 
and lungs, and, in the summer, diseases of the bowels, are most fatal in the east- 
ern counties, while bilious affections are more prevalent in the western counties. 

Agricultural Productions. — In the value of her farms, and general farm 
products, New York is the first State in the Union. The following table gives the 
statistics of the value of her farms, etc., and the amount of her principal crops and 
her live stock, according to the United States census of 1870, and the agricultural 
report of 1874 : 



CROPS, STOCK, ETC. 



Value of farms 

Value of farming implements, etc 

Value of farm productions for the year 

Animals slaughtered, or sold for slaughter. 

Home manufactures 

Forest products 

Market garden products 

Orchard products 

Wages paid for farm labor, including board 

Wheat, for year, bushels 

Rye. " " 

Indian corn, " " 

Oats, " " 

Barley, " " 

Buckwheat, " " 

Flax, " pounds 

Wool, " " 

Hops, " " 

Hay, tons 

Tobacco, " pounds '. 

Maple sugar, " " . . ( 

Sorghum and maple syrup, gallons 

Irish potatoes, bushels 

Peas and beans, " 

Beeswax, pounds 

Honey, " 

Value of all live stock 

Number of horses 

mules and asses 

milch cows 

working oxen 

other cattle 

sheep 

swine 

Dairy products— Butter, pounds 

" " Cheese, 

Milk sold, gallons'.'. '.'.'.'.'. 



Census of 1870. 



.272,857,766 

45.997.7*2 

253526,153 

28,225,720 

I,62I ; 62I 

6,689,179 

3.432,354 

8,347.417 

34,451,362 

12,178,462 

2.478,125 

16,462,825 

35,293,625 
7-434.621 
3,904,030 
3,670,818 
10,599,225 
17,558,681 
5,614,205 
2,349,789 

6,692,040 

53,880 

28,547,593 

1,152.541 

86,333 

896,286 

&175, 882,712 

856,241 

4,407 

1,350,661 

64,14 

671,428 

2,181,578 

518,251 

107,147,526 

22,769,964 

135.775.919 



Report of 1874. 



l\ 



9,l6l,000 
1,834,000 
16,807.000 
30,302,000 
6,463,000 
2,917,000 



5,291,800 
1,593,000 



25,423,000 



$153,006,101 

665 Soo 

18,500 

1,467.000 

669,900 

1 ,996,400 



586,300 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 53 

Manufactures. — The manufacturing industry of the State is of vast amount, 
New York being in this the first State in the Union. The statistics of her manu- 
factures in 1875 "are not yet revised for the State census of that year; but we give 
those of 1865 and 1870, and the leading articles in parallel columns in the table 
below. In 1865 there were 17,525 manufacturing establishments in the State, em- 
ploying 170,811 persons, using $227,674,187 capital, and $280,690,812 of raw 
material, and producing goods' to the value of $457,i33<7 1 7- The United States 
census of 1870 showed a great advance on these figures. There were 36,206 manu- 
facturing establishments, employing 351,800 persons (267,378 men, 63,795 women, 
and 20,627 children) ; the amount of capital reported was $366,994,320; wages paid, 
$142,466,758; raw material, $452,065,452 ; goods annually produced, $785,194,651. 

Railroads and Canals.— (1) Railroads. There were on Jan 1, 1875, 164 railroads 
operated with steam in the State ; the total length of these roads was 11,019.47 miles ; 
the length in the State, 9217.69 miles, including sidings. The length of roads in 
operation in the State was 7615.48 miles; of these 3670.25 were double track. The 
length of equivalent single track would have been 12,507.77 miles. The total cost 
of construction and equipment was $59S,543>93°- 2 4- The amount of capital stock 
authorized was $61 1,298,810 ; the amount of capital stock paid in was$402,365,o7o.95 ; 
the amount of funded debt, $291,681,01 7.1 7, and of floating debt, $30,801,657.06; funded 
and floating debt together, $324,454,408.91. The number of miles run by freight 
trains was 43,953,254, and the amount of freight transported, 33>555>595 tons - T . ne 
gross earnings of the year were $97,951,073.94, and the expenditures, except for div- 
idends and surplus, $86,481,988.14; $11,712,066 was paid in dividends, and 
$3,151,958.62 was carried to surplus fund. Some of the roads earned less than then- 
expenses. There were at the same date 76 street railroads, having a total length of 
489.50 miles, the actual length traversed being only 396.57 miles; of this 253.45 was 
double track. The number of passengers carried on these roads was 228,372,122. 
The amount of capital stock authorized was $48,861,500; paid in, $22,408,825 ; funded 
and floating debt, $16,991,937.06. The total cost of constructing and equipment was 
$36,600,357.64. The total earnings of the year were $13,195,851.56 ; the total 
payments, including dividends, $1,253,073, were $13,237,178.92. (2) Canals. Thereare 
1 1 canals owned by the State. These, with their navigable feeders, have a total 
length of 906.95 miles, and had cost the State, with their equipment, up 
to January, 1875, $100,717,995. The receipts from tolls, etc., up to the year 
1874 were $2,947,972.91, of which $2,672,787.22 was from the Erie Canal ; the expend- 
iture for ordinary and extraordinary repairs, etc., was $2,696,357.30, of which 
$1,674,889.77 was for the Erie, leaving a surplus of $997,897.45 for the Erie Canal, while 
all others had expended more than their income, and $773,474.51 was taken from the 
earnings of the Erie Canal to supply their deficiency. Besides these State Canals 
there are two others, partly in this State, which belong to corporations, namely, Del- 
aware and Hudson Canal, of which 87 miles are in this State, and the Junction Ca- 
nal, 18 miles long. The canal debt outstanding September 30, 1874, was $10,230,430, 
of which $65,430 was not paying interest. There was in the sinking funds 
$1,561,018.99 for the reduction of this debt. 

Finances.— The State debt on September 30, 1875, was $28,328,686.40, less the 
amounts held by the different sinking funds, which at that date were $13,581,382.14, 
reducing the actual debt of the State to $i4,747>3°4-26. The bounty debt of 
$15,054,500 will be extinguished in 1877, and the canal debt much reduced. The 
State tax of 1875 raised the sum of $14,206,680.61, and the appropriations of the year 
were $13,172,805.43, leaving a balance in the treasury applicable to the reduction of 
the debt, of $1,033,875.18. There had been great abuses and frauds in the manage- 



54 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

ment of the canals and State Prisons during several years past, but these have 
mostly been detected and prevented. The building of the new Capitol and of sev- 
eral insane hospitals and a reformatory had been attended with lavish expenditures, 
the former, though not half finished, having cost more than $6,000,000, and the latter 
$3'3 IQ >547-79 ! uUt so vast are the resources of the State that with economy the debt 
may be entirely extinguished by 1880. 

Immigration. — For the statistics of the Commissioners of Emigrations, see New 
Vork City. 

Banks. — There were, January 1st, 1875, 276 national banks doing business in the 
State; the aggregate capital was $106,004,691; their loans and discounts, 
$281,459,269.71; the amount of bonds deposited for circulation, $64,414,350 ; their 
surplus fund, $32,353,124.47; their undivided profits, $16,681,627.07; specie, 
$16,118,122.82; their legal-tender notes, $25,099,955; U. S. certificates of deposit, 
$23,550,000; individual deposits, $269,178,942.51. For the year ending October 1st, 
1875, there were 84 State banks in operation, the amount of their capital was about 
$27,000,000; of their loans and discounts, not quite $70,000,000; and the amount 
due depositors, $63,000,000. The number of savings banks in July, 1875, was 160; 
entire number in operation January 1st, 1876, was 150. The aggregate assets of these 
banks, July 1st, 1875, were $336,308,236.43. They had 891,992 depositors, and the 
amount of deposits was $316,335,617.82. 

Trust, Loan, and Indemnity Companies. — There were, on January 1st, 1876, 
twelve of these companies doing business in the State; one was organized Septem- 
ber, 1875, tne other eleven had an aggregate capital paid in of $11,584,475 ; the total 
amount of their assets was $69,654,948, and the amount due from them to their 
depositors was $50,365,569. 

Insurance Companies. — On November 19, 1875, there were in the State 102 
joint-stock fire insurance companies, 8 mutual fire, 9 marine insurance companies, 
22 life insurance companies, and 1 plate-glass insurance company. The balance- 
sheets of these fire insurance companies for 1875 are not yet reported; for 1874 they 
were, for joint-stock, fire, and marine insurance companies, total assets, $55,985,676.01 ; 
total liabilities, including capital, $41,227,279.20; surplus over liabilities, $14,771,- 
948.43; amount paid-up capital, $26,307,020 ; premium received in 1874, $13,398,443.- 
06; losses paid incurred in 1874, $3,620,564.61 ; estimated expenses, $4,056,630.77; 
making a total of $7,677,195.38, and leaving a net profit of $5,721,247.68, and a 
net loss of $9971.22. The entire amount of risks written was : fire,$i,92i,237,4i7 ; 
marine and inland navigation, $49,860,633. The mutual marine insurance companies 
(not fire and marine nor joint-stock), 9 in number, reported net assets of $2 1,087, - 
483.27; gross cash income for the year, $11,209,753.59; gross cash expenditures 
(including dividends of $3,138,625.10), $9,622,772.86; risk in force, $175,561,504; 
mutual fire companies, net assets, including premium notes, $2,276,691.13 ; risks in 
force, $54,045,208 ; gross cash income, $137,861.66 ; gross cash expenditures, $117,- 
135.66. The assets of the 22 life insurance companies in the State, Gov. Tilden says, 
amount to nearly $200,000,000, the amount insured by them to $1,000,000,000, and 
their annual receipts to more than $60,000,000. 

Commerce. — New York receives and sends from its ports by far the largest 
part of the foreign commerce of the nation, and by its canals and trunk lines of rail- 
roads it also conveys a large portion of the internal commerce of'the country. The 
following table gives the imports and domestic and foreign exports at each of the 
ports or customs districts of the State for the year ending June 30th, 1874, and for 
that ending June 30th, 1875, together with the entrances and clearances for the year 
ending June 30th, 1874: 



comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 



55 







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56 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

Internal Commerce. — This can only be estimated in gross, and at best not very 
accurately. Many of the smaller and more costly articles of merchandise are trans- 
ported by express companies or as personal baggage, and their value cannot be 
determined. The value of the tonnage moved on the canals of the State in 1874 is 
officially estimated by the auditor as $196,674,322. As the freight transported by the 
canals in 1874 was but 5,804,588 tons, and that of the railroads of the State (exclusive 
of express freight) was 33,555,595 tons— which being transported at higher rates may 
fairly be presumed to be of greater value — we are safe in estimating it as at least six 
times the value of the canal freight, namely, $1,180,045,932, or an aggregate of $1,376,- 
720,254. This does not include that which passed over the Delaware and Hudson 
and Junction canals, nor the large amounts conveyed by steamers on Hudson River, 
Long Island Sound, and the lakes. As most of the costlier freight and all the bul- 
lion from the mining-regions is moved by express, the total amount of this internal 
commerce probably exceeds $2,000,000,000. 

Education.— (1) Common Schools. The school fund proper, on January 1st, 1875, 
was $3,054,772.10, and the revenue from it was $178,813.72. The income of the U. S. 
deposit fund, which in this State amounts to $4,014520.71,15 also applied to educa- 
tional purposes, a part of it being applied to increase the amount of the capital of 
the school fund, and a part to increase its revenue; $160,000 was thus applied in 
1874, making the entire amount applicable to common schools from these funds in 
1874, $392,372.45. But by far the largest part of the expenditure for common 
schools is raised by taxation, and in some cases this is supplemented by local funds. 
The entire receipts for school purposes in 1875 were $12,516,362.96, and the entire 
expenditure, $11,365,377.79. Of this there was paid for teachers' wages, $7,843,- 
231.67 ; for school-houses, repairs, furniture, etc., $1,844,347.20. The estimated value 
of school-houses and sites was $36,393,190. The total number of school-houses was 
11,787; number of teachers employed at the same time for the full legal term of 
school, 19,157 ; number of teachers employed during any portion of the year, 29,977, 
of whom 7387 were males, and 22,590 females. The average monthly wages was for 
the cities, $72.28 ; for the towns, $32.92 ; for the entire State, $46.68. The difference 
between the salary of male and female teachers is not given. The number of children 
attending the common schools was 1,058,846; the average daily attendance, 515,225; 
the number of persons between five and twenty-one years of age, 1,579,504; the 
number of persons attending Normal schools, 6207 ; the number of private schools 
was 1436. (2) Academies. There were in the State, January 1st, 1875, 240 academies 
and academical departments of Union schools. These are under the care of the Board 
of Regents of the University of the State of New York, an organization consisting of 
23 persons, 4 of them State officers ex officio, and 19 appointed by the governor and 
senate, which superintends the educational condition of the State, holds examinations 
at the academies and colleges, and an annual convocation of the heads and profes- 
sors of colleges and academies, and apportions the income of the literature fund 
annually. The Board of Regents do not engage in actual teaching, nor perform the 
usual duties of a university, but they are of great service to the educational interests 
of the State. They have the power of conferring degrees, but this power is but spar- 
ingly exercised. Of the academies, some are of very high grade, and not only pre- 
pare students for college, but for business or professional life. The greater part are 
for pupils of both sexes, but a considerable number are confined exclusively to male 
or to female pupils. These academies had, about January 1st, 1876, over 1400 teachers, 
25,620 pupils, and received from the literature and U. S. deposit funds about $185,- 
000 annually, aside from their tuition and endowment income. Besides the follow- 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



57 



ger 



o 



ing Normal schools, there are city Normal schools attached to most of the lar s , 
city-school systems; 10S academies, etc., in the cities were authorized, in 1874, t~ 
instruct teachers' classes. Of these, 92 maintained such classes, instructing 2044 
teachers (644 males and 1400 females), for which the State paid $29,337.62 ; 59 teach- 
ers' institutes were conducted during the year, and attended by 1 1,478 teachers, at 
a cost to the State for the education of its teachers of nearly $290,000. 



NORMAL SCHOOLS. 



When 
open- 
ed. 



Albany 1844 

Rockport 1867 

Buffalo 1871 

Cortland 

Fredonia 'S68 

Genesee 1871 

Oswego ... 1S63 

Potsdam i86g 

New York City 1870 



Totals. 



In- 
state- 
ors. 



15 
18 
16 
14 
17 
17 
15 
16 
32 



160 



Nor- 
mal 
Stu- 
dents. 



Pupils in low.Dep'ts, 



Inter-! 
Acad- medi- Prim- 
emies. ate or 

m'dle. 



544 




291 


223 


303 




399 


27 


237 


118 


3°7 


157 


429 




365 


*73 


97i 


189 
887 


3,846 



145 
187 

7 
164 
169 
188 
238 
'43 



ary . 



63 
170 
267 
381 
239 
189 
278 
114 



1. 241 I 1. 701 



Whole 
num- 
ber of 
Grad- 
uates. I 



2,041 

i°5 

57 

120 

>33 
26 

587 

59 



Value of 

School 

Property. 



$84,000 

140,000 

127,039 

104,616 

■07,750 

93,43o 

84,500 

95,004 

390,000 



3,128 $1,226,339 



Annual Annual Ex- 
Receipts, penditures. 



$21,931.50 
20,514.74 
18,510.84 
20,272.26 
22, 196.31 
21,162.49 
17,861 .14 
19,654.38 
82,000.00 



$21,519.68 
20,275.21 
18,481.24 
i7,952-94 
21,254.45 
20,819.63 
17,861 . 14 
19,601 . 13 
81,500.00 



Volumes 

in 
Library . 



2,500 
5,507 
164 
6,500 
1,500 

2, 5 CO 

2,941 



3,000 



244,103.66 239,265.42 24.612 



COLLEGES AND COLLEGIATE INSTITUTIONS. 



COLLEGES, ETC 



Location. 



Date 

of 

Or- 

gani- 

zatfn. 



Colleges for Women. 

Vassar College Poughkeepsie. 1865 

Elmira Female College... Elmira 1855 

Packer Collegiate Ins Brooklyn. ... 1845 

Rutgers Female College. . . New York 1838 

Wells College Aurora ...... 1868 

Ingham University Le Roy 1835 



Colleges for Both Sexes 



1857 



Alfred University. Alfred 

Cornell University and' 

Lay College for Women . Ithaca 1868 

Syracuse University Syracuse 1871 



Colleges for Young Men 

St. Bonaventura College. . 
St. Stephen's College .... 

St. John's College 

St . John's College 

Canisius College 

St. Joseph's 

St Lawrence University . 
Hamilton College. . . 

Hobart College 

Madison University 

College of the City of New 

York 

College of St. Francis 

Xavier 

Columbia College 

Manhattan College 

University of the City of 

New York 

University of Rochester.. 

Union College 

St. Francis College 



Allegany. . . . 
Annandale.. . 
Fordham. . . . 
Brooklyn. . . 

Buffalo 

Buffalo 

Canton 

Clinton 

Geneva 

Hamilton. . . . 



New York . . . 

New York . . 

New York . . 
New. York. . . 

New York . . . 
Rochester . . 
Schenectady. 
Brooklyn 



1859 
i860 
1840 
1870 
1870 
1861 
1868 
1812 
1824 
1832 

1847 



Pro- Stu- Stu- 
fessors dents dents 

and in pre- in 
In- para- Colle- 
struc tory giate 

tors. Dep't Dep't 



35 
12 

37 
13 
12 

19 



54 
11 



20 

7 

6 

6 

16 

23 

9 

13 

7 



39 



1874 42 

1754 ' 10 

1863 40 

1830 16 

1850 9 

'795 I 15 

.... I 14 



146 
81 

662 
84 



242 
420 



265 

45 
96 

'76 
71 



293 


114 


[ 


162 


150 

22 


80 

42 

I20 




I20 


20O 


141 
60 
46 

150 

53 

IOI 


448 


316 



77 
172 

222 

I46 
.56 
'57 
215 



Value of 

Buildings, 

Ground-.. 

Apparatus. 



$697,347 
154,800 
350,000 
150,000 
300,000 
75,000 



80,700 

850,000 
300,000 



140,000 
150.000 
1 50,000 

75,000 
38,750 

320,000 
67,862 

102,500 

275,000 



Endow- 
ment. 



$331,000 

100,000 

41 1,01 <" 



70,000 

2,753,999 
316,187 



09-472 
300,000 
249.814 
344,395 



428,000 172,000 
787,700 4,581,694 
345,ooo 



500,000 

335,274 
400,000 
100. 000 



100,000 
1 70,000 
665,000 



Income 

from 
Endow- 
ment. 



$19,670 
7 000 
3,000 



7,000 



3,770 

83,635 
19,478 



6,230 
18,300 

13,244 
20,199 



208,502 



12, OOO 
TO.OGO 
22,000 



Income 

from 

all 



$169,894 
39,500 
90,000 
17,824 
22,200 
9,000 



9,526 

135,224 
23,286 



23,000 
10,000 



6,707 

24,800 

13,879 
24,942 

150,000 

36,084 

302.937 

62,343 

36,646 
17,000 
28,795 

33.796 



Volumes 
in 



Sources. Libra T- 



9.000 
3,700 
5,000 
5,000 
3,000 
4,600 



3,400 

48,000 
2,500 



3,000 

2,000 

1,500 

150 

5,000 

3,500 

7,108 

18,000 

11,970 

10.000 

19,500 

16,000 

16,985 

6,500 

4.694 
12.400 
18,000 
13,970 



8 



58 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS. 



NAME OF SCIENTIFIC 

OR PROFESSIONAL 

SCHOOLS. 



Location. 



Schools of Science. 

College of Agric.and Median 
ic Arts, Cornell Universitjr. 

Department of Science, Uni- 
versity of the City of New 
York 

Engineering School, Union 
College ._• 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti- 
tute 

Brooklyn Polytechnic Insti- 
tute, Scientific Dep't 

Columbia College, School ol 
Mines 

U. S. Military Academy.. . 

Schools of Theology. 

De Lancey Divinity School.. 

General Theological Sem. 
Prot. Episcopal Church... 

Hamilton Theological Sem. . 

Hartwick Seminary 

Theological Department, 
Martin Luther College 

Newburg Theological sem. 

Rochester Theological Sem. 

St. Joseph's Provincial Sem. 

Seminary of our Lady of An- 
gels 

Auburn Theological Sem. 

Theological Department, 
Lawrence University 

Union Theological Sem. . . . 

Tabernacle Lay College 



Ithaca. 



New York.. . 
Schenectady, 

Troy 

Brooklyn 



Date 
of 
Organi- 
zation. 



Num- 
ber of 

In- 
struc- 
tors. 



New York. . . 
West Point. . 



Geneva. 



Buffalo..., 
Newburg . 
Rochester. 
Troy 



Schools of Law. 

Albany Law School, Union 
University 

ColumbiaCollege Law School 

Department of Law, Univer- 
sity of City of New York. . 

Law School of Hamilton 
College 



Schools of Medicine. 

Albany Medical College, 
Union University 

Bellevue Hospital Medical 
College 

College of Physicians and 
Surgeons 

College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, Syracuse Univ.. 

Free Medical College for 
Women 

Long Island College Hospital 

Medical Department Uni- 
versity of Buffalo 

Medical Dep't University of 
City cf New York 

Women's Medical College of 
New York Infirmary.. 

Eclectic Medical College of 
New York 

New York Homoeopathic 
Medical College 

New York Medical College 
and Hospital for Women 

New York College of Den- 
tistry 

College of Pharmacy of City 
of New York 



New York. . 

Hamilton 

Hartwick. . . 



Niagara Falls 
Auburn 



Canton 

NewYork City 
Brooklyn. . . 



Albany. . . . 
New York . 

New York . 

Clinton. . . . 



Albany .... 
NewYork City 
NewYork City 
Syracuse 



New York . . . 
Brooklyn 



Buffalo 

NewYork City 
NewYork City 
NewYork City 
NewYork City 
NewYork City 
NewYork City 
NewYork City 



1868 

1871 

1845 
1824 

'855 

1863 
1802 

i860 

1821 
1820 
1815 

1854 
1822 
1850 
1864 

1857 



1858 
1836 
1870 



1851 
1858 

1857 
1870 



183? 
1861 
1807 
1872 

1871 

i860 

1847 
1841 
1864 
165 
i860 
1863 
1866 
1829 



25 

4 
'5 
13 

5 

14 
46 



6 
5 
3 

4 
3 
6 

6 

17 

5 

3 
12 

9 



30 

16 

12 
20 

9 
23 
21 

8 
20 

'5 
18 

4 



[A l-» • 

5 3 <~ 

IT." 



409 

24 

47 

190 

180 

206 
278 



69 
42 

4 

10 

'7 

58 
125 

59 
48 



116 

230 



109 
522 

51 
'3 



117 
472 

452 
6o 

48 
97 

101 

360 
30 
55 

131 
21 
68 

'37 



Value of 
Under Buildings, ' 
what Con- Grounds, Endow . 
trol. and Ap- 

paratus, 



ment. 



With Uni- 
State versity. 

With Uni- 
Un. N. Y.C. versity. 

Union Col.. With Col. I 

Private $76,000 $25,000 

Private 164,064 

Col. College. With Col. 
U. S I 



Prot. Epis. . 



Prot. Epis. . ; 650,000 
Baptist .... 34,000 
Lutheran. . . 



Lutheran. .. 
Un'td Pres.. 

Baptist 

R. Catholic. 



13,000 
25,000 

75, coo 



Universalist 
Presbyt'rian 
Non-secta- 
rian. 



Un. Univ.. . 
Col. Col.... 

Un. C. N.Y.j 

Ham. Col. . . 



Union Univ. 

Bellevue 

Med. Hos.C. 

Coll. Phys. 

and Surg. 

Syr. Univ... 
j Free Med- 
ical College. 
J L, I. Col H os. 

Un. Buffalo. 

Un. of NY 
N. Y. In- 
firmary Hos. 

Trustees 

Trustees... . 

Trustees 

Trustees. .. 

Trustees. . . I 



22,500 

200,000 

80,000 



25,000 
165.000 

l6,DOO 

26.500 

20,000 
50,000 
2,500 
15,000 
10,000 
150,000 



25.796 

138,750 
61,550 



4 1 ,000 
225,000 



R. Catholic. • 150,000 
Presbyt'rianj 150,000 295,500 



92,777 
800,000 



Income Total Vol'mes 
from Annual in 

Funds. Income. Library. 



1,680 

8,600 
1,785 



3,800 



20,500 

6,494 
56 000 



$38,000 
65,089 
20,525 



2,500 



2,000 1 1,200 



6,000 



41,826 

3,100 

780 



3,000 

3,200 

3,000 

5,798 
25,000 

100 

15,000 



300 

3,500 
9,000 
8,000 

3,000 
10,000 

6,682 
33,ooo 



5,000 
4,100 



1,200 
5,000 



7,202 


5,115 


50,000 




3»i"5 


500 


2,000 


2,000 



8,454 

63,000 
4,5^ 
2,500 

12,056 

3,375 
5.678 
7,000 



400 



I.OOO 



comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 59 

Special Education. — The institutions for special education in the State are— 
(i) The New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, in New York 
City, founded in 1817, which had, in January, 1875, 18 teachers and instructors, 584 
pupils, of whom 337 were males, and 247 females, and received from the State for 
the support of its State pupils, 1875, $121,819.97. (2) The New York Institution for the 
Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes, in New York City, intended to teach artic- 
ulation and lip-reading: it had, in January, 1875, 92 pupils; 103 (55 males and 48 
females) had been taught during the year. The State appropriation for 1875 was 
$18,586.66. (3) Le Couteulx St. Mary's Institution for the Improved Instruction of 
Deaf-Mutes, at Buffalo, a private institution, but receiving State and county pupils 
since 1872. It had, January 1st, 1876, 72 pupils (37 males and 35 females), and had 32 
State and 20 county pupils at that date, and received from the State $94°°, besides 
the payments from' the counties. There are also two private institutions for deaf - 
mutes, which do not receive State aid; viz., the School of Articulation at Aurora, 
with 2 teachers and 6 pupils; and St. Joseph's Institution at Fordham, with 6 
teachers and 40 pupils. Another institution for deaf-mutes is proposed to be locat- 
ed at Rome, N. Y., for the northern counties, but has not yet been organized. (4) The 
New York Institution for the Blind at New York City, which had, January 1st, 1875, 
173 pupils, of whom 147 were State pupils; it received from the State, in 1875, 
$43,899.32, and $84,000 from other sources; it had 60 teachers and other employes. 
(5) The State Institution for the Blind, at Batavia, having 150 pupils and 31 
teachers and other employes; it received from the State $52,000, and from other 
sources $9525. (6) The State Asylum for Idiots at Syracuse, which had in Jan., 
1875, 164 pupils, and received from the State, for 1875, $37>5°°- There are two or 
three private or city institutions for idiotic, imbecile, feeble-minded, and paralytic 
children in the State. 

Reformatories, Industrial Schools, etc.— With the exception of the State 
Reformatory at Elmira, now in course of construction, and the Thomas Orphan 
Asylum for Indian children on the Cattaraugus Reservation near Versailles, none of 
these are strictlv and wholly State institutions. Yet the House of Refuge for Juve- 
nile Delinquents, on Randall's Island, and the Western House of Refuge at Roches- 
ter, receive large sums from the State (the former $71,000, and the latter $44,!99> in 
1877) ; and nearly all the rest have an appropriation from the educational fund, or 
some other State aid, each year. There are 25 or 30 reformatories, industrial schools, 
and mission schools for vagrant children, etc., in New York City (for a fuller 
account of which see New York City). There are four or five institutions within a 
moderate distance from the city, which receive considerable numbers of these 
vagrant children from New York City. Brooklyn and Kings County have 9 or 10 
of these reformatories and asylums. There are local institutions belonging to this 
class in all the larger and most of the smaller cities of the State. 

Charitable Institutions not Educational.— Of asylums and homes for the 
aged and infirm there are very many in the State. In the counties of New York, 
Kings, Richmond, and Suffolk, there are 21, and perhaps more; 2 in Utica, 2 in 
Rochester, and several in other cities and towns. Of hospitals the number is still 
larger, some of them city or county institutions, but the greater number endowed 
by 'some denomination or nationality, or by individuals. There are 33 in New York, 
Kings, and Richmond counties, and one or more of the other cities of the State. 
Of hospitals for the insane the State has 5, namely, the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, 
the Willard Asylum for the Insane at Ovid, the Hudson River State Hospital for 
the Insane at Poughkeepsie, the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane at Buffalo, the 



6o 



COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



Homoeopathic Asylum for the Insane at Middletown, and in addition, a hospital for 
insane convicts at Auburn. There are, also, count}' hospitals for insane in n or 12 
of the larger counties. There are also corporate institutions, like the Blooming- 
dale Hospital for the Insane, the Emigrants' Insane Hospital on Ward's Island, and 
private hospitals for the insane at Flushing, Hyde Park, and elsewhere. The State 
hospitals received, in 1875, $437,600. The New York State Inebriate Asylum at 
Binghamton has been under the care of the State since 1868. Its annual expenses, 
paid by the State, are about $10,000. There are several county inebriate asylums, 
some of them on a large scale. 

Penal Institutions. — There are 3 State Prisons in the State — Auburn, Clinton, 
and Sing Sing. On Oct. 1, 1875, there were 13 12 prisoners in Auburn, 553 in 
Clinton, and 1616 in Sing Sing — a total of 3481; and their expenditure for the 
year previous, including the asylum for insane convicts, was $949,510.44, while the 
earnings of the prisoners amounted to $368,978.51, leaving an excess of expendi- 
tures of $580,531.93. Most of the more populous counties have large penitentiaries, 
and in 4 or 5 of these, State convicts are also placed when the State prisons become 
too full. The county penitentiaries are usually well conducted, but the county jails — 
especially in the less populous counties — are often badly managed, and unsafe for 
the confinement of desperate criminals. 

Churches. 



DENOMINATIONS. 



All denominations 

Paptist 

Freewill and 7th-Day Bap't 

Christians 

Congregationalists 

Protestant Episcopalians. . . 
Evangelical Association.... 

Friends 

Jews 

Lutherans 

Methodist Episcopalians. . . 
Meth Prots.. Free Meths.. . 

Miscellaneous 

Moravians 

New Jer. Ch. (Swedenbo'n) 

Presbyterian Church 

Pres.United, Asso. Refor'd. 
Reformed Ch. (late Dutch) 
Reformed Ch.Qate German) 

Roman Catholics 

Second Adventists 

Shakers 

Spiritualists 

Unitarian-;. 

United Brethren in Christ. 

Universalists 

Local Missions 

Union Churches 



Chu'ch 
Organ- 
izations. 
1870. 



Chu'ch 

Edifices. 

1870. 



Sittings. 
1870. 



.627 


5,474 


817 

85 


795 
84 


95 
26S 


95 
256 


475 


465 


25 
89 


25 
87 


47 


33 


190 


182 


745 


1,702 


4 
6 


2 1 

6 


4 

672 


3 

656 


54 


49 


304 
9 


300 

8 


455 


453 


17 


II 


3 


3 


) 


2 


22 
7 


IQ 

6 


124 


120 


14 
93 


14 

98 



2,282,876 

309,1" 
23,375 
28,175 

111.785 

204,290 

7,300 
24,910 
21,400 

70,133 

606,098 



Church 

Property. 

1870. 



1,000 

3,000 

1,950 

325.780 

24,090 

147,033 

3»45o 

271,285 

3,120 

2,300 

580 

8,850 

1.850 

41,610 

2,000 

32,801 



066,073,755 

7.439,350 

162,925 

224,850. 

2,732,500 

7,211,15,. 

228,350 

sg6,3oo | 

1.831,950 

1,560,500 

11,768,290 

•• 

30,600 

134,600 

175,000 

12.786,900 

644,140 

7,076,250 

134,000 

8,558,750 

45.650 

23,000 

31,000, 

715,200' 

10.200 

1,155,950, 

580,900 

216,050 



Chu'ch 
Organ- 
izations. 
1875. 



6.357 
898 

99 

107 

259 

596 

3i 

95 

5 1 

257 

1,676 

278 

4 

7 

6 

[ 738 

277 

12 

704 

19 

3 

3 

24 

30 



95 



Chu'ch 

Edifices. 

1875. 



Clergy- 
men. 
1875. 



6,057 
849 

97 
100 

259 

585 

3° 

93 

40 

241 

1,648 

246 

3 

7 

5 

729 

278 

10 

609 

13 
3 
2 

21 
12 

81 

"98 



6,115 

776 

86 

89 
219 

7°9 
24 

"46 
129 

• 1,426 
267 

4 
8 
6 

987 

299 

8 

79' 
12 



23 
26 



80 



< hun h 
Mem- 
bers. 
1875. 



555,049 

114,863 

8,146 

9,378 

29,964 

72 768 

3.215 

3.788 

7,642 

21,185 

164,853 

3'-75° 

350 

750 

600 

113,881 

42-545 
1, 000 

1,723 
950 
500 
2,100 
3,010 
4.390 



5.700 



Adherent 
Popu- 
lation. 
1875- 



3,934,hgo 

570.400 

40,000 

45,000 

140.400 

300,000 

15.0. o 

r,noo 

35.000 

84.000 

82 1 . 500 

150 OcO 

1,200 

3.800 

3,000 

^66,440 

210,250 

5.000 

790,000 

6.800 

14.000 
2.500 
10.000 
12,000 
15.000 

20,000 



Church 

Property. 

1875. 



875,924 896 

8,772,450 

2 73.3O0 

295.250 

3,127,500 

8,318,000 

297,000 

718 500 

2.167,300 

2,271,500 

I7,432,99 6 

1,157,600 

35,000 

ifo,ooo 

237,000 

14,580,000 

7,350,000 

18 >.ooo 

10,371.500 

50,0 o 
28,000 
30,000 

810,000 

37,000 
1,200,000 

225,000 



Newspapers and Periodicals.— In 1870 there were 835 periodicals of all 
classes published in the State, issuing annually 471,741,744 copies, and having an 
aggregate circulation of 7,561,497. Of these 87' were dailies, having a circulation of 
780,470; 5 tri-weeklies, with 5800 circulation; 22 semi-weeklies, with 114,500 cir- 
culation; 518 weeklies, with 3,388,497 circulation; 21 semi-monthlies, with 216,300 



COMLEV's HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 6l 

circulation; 163 monthlies, with 2,920,810 circulation ; 19 quarterlies, with 135,120 
circulation ; and 6 annuals, with 766,000 circulation. Of the whole number 17 were 
advertising sheets, 10 agricultural, 12 organs of benevolent or secret societies, 50 
commercial or financial, 103 illustrated, literary, or miscellaneous, 6 devoted to 
nationality, 487 political, 99 religious, 4 sporting, and 56 technical and professional. 
In 1875 the number of periodicals, according to the American Newspaper Directory, 
had increased to 1086; and while the proportions of the different classes were not 
greatly changed relatively, there were 100 dailies, 5 tri-weeklies, 15 semi-weeklies, 
690 weeklies, 5 bi-weeklies, 27 semi-monthlies, 218 monthlies, and 26 quarterly pub- 
lications. The number of annuals is not given, but these had increased to 12 or 13. 
The aggregate circulation of all classes of periodicals was also very largely 
augmented. 

Constitution, Courts, Representatives in Congress, etc.— Under the 
Constitution of 1846, which, as amended, is the governing law of the State, every 
male citizen of the age of 21 years (except such as may be idiotic or insane, and 
such as have been convicted of bribery, larceny, or any infamous crime), who shall 
have been a citizen for 10 days, an inhabitant of the State for 1 year next preceding 
any election, and for the last 4 months a resident of the county, and for 30 days of 
the ward, district, or precinct in which he may offer his vote, shall be entitled to 
vote for all officers elected by the people. All elections are by ballot. The legis- 
lative power of the State is vested in a Senate and Assembly, the former consisting 
of 12 members, chosen for two years; the latter, of 128 members, chosen for one 
year. The executive power is vested in a governor, elected for two years. He 
must be 30 years of age or more, and have been a resident of the State for at least 
five wears next preceding an election. He is chosen at a general State election for 
the election of members of Assembly, and at the same times and places a lieuten- 
ant-governor. In the alternate years a secretary of State, comptroller, treasurer, 
attorney-general, State engineer, and surveyor are chosen, also for two years ; 
and at the same times and places, 3 canal commissioners and 3 inspectors of State 
prison, one of each, each year, for the term of three years. The judiciary consists 
of a court of appeals, composed of a chief judge and 6 associated justices, elected 
by the people for 14 vears, which court has appellate jurisdiction only ; of a supreme 
court in each of the eight judicial districts into which the State is divided, consisting 
of 5 justices in the New York district, and 4 in each of the others, all elected for 
14 vears; these courts have general jurisdiction in law and equity. There are, also, 
county courts, superior courts, surrogates' courts, and in the cities city courts, courts 
of general sessions, of oyer and terminer, and police courts. In New York City 
is also a marine court, and a recently established court of arbitration. 

Principal Cities and Towns. — Albany, the capital of the State, had in 1875 a 
population of 86,013 ; New York, its great metropolis, had the same year 1,046,037 ;* 
Brooklyn, 484,616 ; Buffalo, with 134,593 inhabitants, was the only other city in the 
State having over 100,000; Rochester had 81,673; Syracuse and Troy not quite 
50,000 eaclO Utica, 32,070; Yonkers, Newburg, Cohoes, Auburn, Poughkeepsie, 
Elmira, and Oswego ranged between 17,000 and 23,000; 10 cities and towns, 
viz., Rome, Ogdensburg, Lockport, Schenectady, East New York, Hempstead, 
Flushing, Binghamton, Long Island City, and Johnstown, range between 12,000 
and 16,000; 20 more, including the cities of Kingston and Hudson, and the 
incorporated villages of Catskill, Plattsburg, Middletown, Newtown, Amsterdam, 

* Three towns, w'.iosc population in 1875 was 36,206, were set off from Westchester, and annexed 
to New York County, January 1st, 1874. 



62 



COM LEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



Oswego, Saratoga Springs, etc., ranged between 8000 and 12,000; and 54 other 
towns of the State had from 5000 to 8000. 

Counties (60). 



COUNTIES. 



Population. 
1870. 



Albany 

Allegany ... 

Broome 

Cattaraugus. . 
Cayuga 
Chautauqua . 

Chemung 

Chenango 

Clinton . 

Columbia . . . 
Cortland .... 
Delaware. 
Dutchess. 

Erie 

Essex 

Franklin 

Fulton 

Genesee 

Greene 

Hamilton 
Herkimer 
Jefferson .... 

Kings 

Lewis . . 

Livingston. . 

Madison 

Monroe 

Montgomery . 
New York. . . . 

Niagara 

Oneida 

Onondaga 

Ontario 

Orange 

Orleans 

Oswego 

Otsego 

Putnam 

Queens 

Rensselaer . . . 
Richmond. . . . 

Rockland 

Saratoga 

Schenectady. . 

Schoharie 

Schuyler 

Seneca 

Steuben 

St. Lawrence. 

Suffolk 

Sullivan 

Tioga 

Tompkins. . . . 

Ulster 

Warren 

Washington . . 

Wayne 

Westchester. . 
Wyoming. 
Yates 



Males. 
1870. 



Females. 
1870. 



133.052 
40,8 1 4 
44,) 03 
43>9°9 
59.55° 
59.327 
35.28i 
40,564 
47.947 
47.044 
25.173 
42,972 
74,041 

178,699 
39,042 

30,27' 
27,064 
31,606 
31.832 
2,960 
39.929 
65.415 
419.921 
28,699 

38.309 

43-522 

117,868 

34.457 
942,292 

5o,437 
110,008 
104,183 
45,108 
80,902 
27,869 
77.491 
48,967 
15.420 
73,803 

99.549 
33,029 
25.213 
51,529 
21,347 
33,340 
18.989 
28,823 

67,717 
84,826 
46,924 
34.550 
30,572 
33.178 
84.075 
22.592 
49,^68 
47.7io 
131.348 
29,164 
19.595 



64,775 
20,493 

22,->I9 
22,178 
29.953 
29,501 
I7.588 
20,379 
24,320 
23,OOI 
12,549 
21,929 
36.368 
89.530 
14.719 
14,991 
13,349 
15,703 
15,555 
I.638 
20,152 

32,434 
202,024 
14,762 
18,919 
2I,920 
58,105 
17-293 
457,U7 
25,OIO 
54.022 
5I.960 
22,348 
40,146 
13.752 
38,907 
24,432 
7,6.52 
36,717 
48.731 
16,164 
12,789 
25,267 
10,481 
16,603 
9.370 
13.691 
34,048 
42,007 
23.295 
17,908 
I5.250 
16,592 
42,6l2 
11,440 
25,068 
23-7Ii 
65.739 
14.514 
9,726 



68.277 
20,321 
22.084 
21,731 

29-597 
29.826 

'7, 93 
20,185 
23,627 
24.023 
12,624 
21.043 

37,673 
89,169 

14,323 
15.280 

13.715 
15,903 
16,277 
1.322 
19,777 
32,981 

217.897 
13.937 
i9>39o 
21,602 
59.763 
17,164 

485,175 
25,427 
55,986 
57.223 
22,760 
40,756 
13.937 
39.034 
24-545 
7.768 
37.086 
50,818 
16,865 
12.415 
26,262 
10,866 

i6,737 
9,619 
14.132 
33.669 
42,819 
23.629 
16,642 
15.322 
16,586 
41,463 
11,152 
24,^00 

23-995 

65.609 

14.650 

9.869 



TotaI 4,38: 



2,759 2,163,229 2,219.530 



Population. 

1875. 



147,530 
41,721 
47,913 
48.477 
61.213 
64,869 
41,879 
39,937 
49,761 
47.756 
24,500 

42,149 
76,056 

199.517 
34.474 
31081 
31,188 
3 2 ,55i 
32,554 
3,482 
41,692 
65,362 

509,216 
20,236 

38,564 
42,490 

134,534 

35,200 

1,046,037 

51,904 

"3,967 

113,223 

47,730 
85.252 

29,977 
78,615 
49,815 
15,811 
84.13' 
105.053 
35.241 
26,951 

55.233 
22,892 

32,419 
18,928 

27,299 
73,92.3 
84,124 
52,088 
34,935 
31,744 
32,915 
88,271 

23,295 

48,167 

49,882 

100,660 

30,595 
19,686 

4,705,208 



Assessed valua- 
tion. 1875. 



$54,636,234 

9,511,099 

10,567,500 

19,199,817 

20,772,208 

18,532,112 

io;533,677 

13,274-437 

6,956,450 

23,836,836 

7,014,354 

9,705,049 

35,888,103 

61,834,512 

6,568,163 

■;, 826,810 

4,076,541 

14,829,493 

6,771,129 

610,187 

11,905,207 

17,518,436 

217,867,485 

4,624.742 

15,238,146 

11,592,189 

42,107,964 

10,760.890 

1,205.531.580 

16,076,703 

33.665,579 

36,770.451 

19,361,602 

31,936,453 
11,255,641 
3^,773,627 
13,865,043 
5,965,232 
32.320,796 
31-515,833 

9,151,590 

10.598,851 

14,430,096 

6.501,649 

5,944,*24 

4.575.i6i 

10.586,912 

14,928,161 

16,044,343 

12,642.474 

3,238,977 

7.075.484 

9,316,916 

15,532,069 

3.208,040 

15,080.420 

16.706.515 

56.167,089 

9.069,807 

8,382.409 

$2,367,780,102 



True valuation. 

Census of 1870. 



$152,055,765 

23,893,857 
21,521,822 
20,620,578 
65,120,255 
48,607,170 
22,374,820 
28,396,584 
12.572.960 
4=,6 '3.545 
11,374,829 

23.305.734 
90,903,788 
162,698,496 
10,262,516 
17,403,342 
11,714,680 
45,35S,32i 

25,173,279 

1,494,320 

30,931,0^4 

40,019,235 

700.000,000 
11,129,312 
44,086,217 
13,349,705 
82,561,640 
19,992,006 
3,484,268,700 
44,959,654 
45,912,258 
99,658,400 
56,948,816 
86,267,635 
31,532.509 
44,094,043 
30,474,171 
13,192.769 
26,026,645 

110,939,126 
14,444,276 
io,979.456 
36.797,898 
15,657,240 
9.948,844 
9,901,295 
33-479.935 
36,573,915 
51,074,369 
30,317,006 
15,076,043 
15.025,923 
19,078,639 
45,536,400 
7-989-885 
45,345.288 
46,081,326 

158,410,46") 

27,717 538 
14,858,922 

6,500,841,269 



comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 63 

History. — The Bay of New York was first discovered in 1524, by Juan de 
Verrazano, a Florentine navigator in the service of France. In September, 1609, 
Hendrik (or Henry) Hudson, a navigator in the service of the States General of 
Holland, again discovered the bay, and ascended both it and the Hudson River to a 
point a little below Albany. On his return, landing in England, he dispatched to 
Holland an account of his discoveries. In 16 10, some Amsterdam merchants sent a 
small vessel to the Hudson River to trade with the Indians for furs, etc. In 1613, 
two small trading-forts were built on the river, and four houses erected on Man- 
hattan Island. In 16 14, an expedition consisting of five vessels was sent out by the 
States-General to explore this region. These explorers ran along the whole length 
of Long Island, ascending the strait now known as the East River, entered the 
Sound, and also passed up the Hudson, and along the Jersey coast to the Delaware 
River, which they ascended for some distance. In October, 16 14, the States-General 
granted to the explorers the exclusive right to trade between the Delaware and 
Connecticut rivers for three years from that date. In 1615, a fort and trading-house 
were erected just below the site of Albany, another on Manhattan Island, and 
messengers were dispatched to the Indian tribes to induce them to trade with the 
company which they had organized as the United New Netherlands Company. On 
the expiration of their grant, the States-General refused to renew it, but they con- 
tinued to trade thither until about 1623 or 1624, when the Dutch West India Com- 
pany, a powerful mercantile association chartered in 162 1, took possession of the 
lands temporarily granted to their predecessors. In 1623 they erected Fort Nassau 
on the Delaware River, and Fort Orange on the site of Albany. In 1624, Peter 
Minuit was appointed Director of the New Netherlands, and brought over colonists 
who settled on Long Island. Staten Island and Manhattan Island were purchased 
from the Indians, the latter for $24. Up to 1629 the settlements were simply trading 
establishments. In that year the West India Company's Council granted to certain 
individuals extensive seigniories or tracts of land, with feudal rights over the lives 
and persons of their subjects. Under this grant Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a pearl 
merchant of Amsterdam, secured in 1630 and subsequently, a tract of land 24 by 48 
miles in extent, comprising the present counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and part 
of Columbia; Micheal Paauw purchased Staten Island, Jersey City, and Harsimus; 
and others, other tracts of great extent. Minuit's administration came to an end in 
1632, and he was succeeded by Wouter Van Twiller. Van Twiller extended the 
colonies, planted a new one on'the Connecticut, on the site of Hartford, and erected 
a fort there and furthered the interests of the company. He was succeeded in 1637 
by William Kieft, whose administration of eight years was one of constant turbu- 
lence and trouble with the colonists, with the Indians, and with the English settlers 
on Long Island and in Connecticut. Meanwhile, the colony of the Patroon Van 
Rensselaer at Rensselaerwyck prospered and extended. In 1645, Petrus Stuyvesant 
was appointed Director in Kieft's place, and for nineteen years ruled the colony 
with great ability, though not without many troubles. In September, 1664, the 
colony of New Netherlands, which, in violation of all national comity, Charles II. 
had granted to his brother, the Duke of York, was conquered by the capitulation of 
New Amsterdam, and its name changed to New York, as was that of Beverwyck to 
Albany. Colonel Nicolls, who had effected the capture, remained governor until 
1667, when Colonel Francis Lovelace succeeded him. In August, 1673, the colony 
was recaptured by the Dutch, and remained in their possession until the following 
February, when it was restored to the English by treaty. The feudal relations of 
the patroons or seigneurs and their tenants and subjects, were not materially 



64 COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

changed during this period; other manors were granted with similar privileges. 
Our space does not permit us to go into the details of the ioo years of colonial rule 
very fully; elsewhere we have given the names and terms of service of the gov- 
ernors who successively ruled the colony. But few of them possessed conspicuous 
abilities, and of these few the greater part were constantly involved in controversies 
with the council or assembly. Governors Hunter, Burnet, Montgomerie, Clark, 
De Lancey, Clinton, Moore, and Colden were deserving of respect, and some of 
them secured the affection of the people. Governor Trvon, who was governor from 
177 1 to October, 1775, was an able man, but an intense Royalist. On July 9, 1776, 
the Provincial Congress, which had been organized in May, 1775, reassembled at 
White Plains, and took the title of " The Representatives of the State of New York." 
At the same session they approved the Declaration of Independence, which had 
just reached them. New York had from the first taken an active part in the move- 
ments which led to the Revolution, though there were many Tories in the State 
The earliest captures of British forts, as Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and Skenes- 
borough (Whitehall), were within her limits, while the disastrous battle of Long 
Island {see Long Island), the minor actions of Harlem Heights, White Plains, and 
the capture of forts Washington and Lee, were among the early misfortunes of the 
New York patriots. New York City and the Hudson below Peekskill, as well as 
Staten Island and most of Long Island, were occupied by the enemy; the northern 
border was held by British troops from Canada; and the eastern central counties, 
along the Mohawk, Schoharie Creek, and the Delaware, were ravaged by Tories and 
Indians, under the leadership of Sir John and Sir Guy Johnson, the bloodthirsty 
Butlers, and the Indian chief Brant. Yet occasionally the patriots were cheered 
by success. Burgoyne, descending upon the State from Quebec with a fine army, 
was harassed, defeated, and compelled to surrender October 17, 1777, near Schuyler- 
ville, Saratoga County. The Indian and Tory raids and massacres continued at 
intervals, but eventually these cowardly foes suffered so severely that they were 
glad to be quiet. The frequent incursions of General Lord Howe up the Hudson 
and on Long Island were not productive of very serious losses, and even the treason of 
Arnold was discovered too soon to cause serious disaster. Its army quota was kept 
full through the able management of its governor, George Clinton. 



EARLY GLIMPSES OF WESTERN NEW YORK. 

A primitive glimpse of the western portion of this State has been reserved for in- 
sertion here — though not in its order of time. It is by far the earliest notice, of any 
considerable detail, which we derive from English sources; if in fact it is not the 
earliest record of any English advent to our region. The author is disposed to con- 
clude that the writer was the first Englishman that saw the country west of the lower 
valley of the Mohawk. His advent was but three years after the English took final 
possession of the Province of New York, and ten years previous to the expedition of 
De Nonville. It is taken from " Chalmers s Political Annals of the United Colonies" a 
work published in London, in 1780 : 



comley's history of the state of NEW YORK. 65 

"OBSERVATIONS OF WENTWORTH GREENHALPH. 

" In a journey from Albany to the Indians westward [the Five JVations], begun the 28th of May, 1677, 
and ended the 14th of July following * 

" The Senecas have four towns, viz., Canagorah, Tistehatan, Canoenada, Keint- 
he. Canagorah and Tistehatan lie within thirty miles of the Lake Frontenac ; the 
other two about four or five miles to the southward of these ; they have abundance 
of corn. None of their towns are stockadoed. 

" Canagorah lies on the top of a great hill, and in that as well as in the bigness, 
much like Onondagoe [which is described as ' situated on a hill that is very large, the 
bank on each side extending itself at least two miles, all cleared lands, whereon the 
corn is planted'], containing 150 houses, north-westward of Cayuga 72 miles. 

" Here the Indians were very desirous to see us ride our horses, which we did. 
They made feasts and dancing, and invited us, that, when all the maids were toge- 
ther, both we and our Indians might choose such as liked us to lie with. 

" Tistehatan lies on the edge of a hill : not much cleared ground ; is near the 
river Tistehatan, which signifies bending.] It lies to the northward of Canagorah 
about thirty miles; contains about 120 houses, being the largest of all the houses we 
saw ; the ordinary being 50 or 60 feet, and some 130 or 140 feet long, with 13 or 14 
fires in one house. They have good store of corn growing about a mile to the north- 
ward of the town. 

" Being at this place on the 17th of June, there came 50 prisoners from the south- 
westward, and they were of two nations ; some whereof have a few guns, the other 
none. One nation is about ten days' journey from any Christians, and trade only 
with one great house,J not far from the sea; and the other, as they say, trade only 
with a black people. This day, of them were burnt two women and a man, and a 
child killed with a stone. At night we heard a great noise, as if the houses had all 
fallen ; but it was only the inhabitants driving away the ghosts of the murdered. 

"The 1 8th, going to Canagorah, we overtook the prisoners. When the soldiers 
saw us, they stopped each his prisoner, and made him sing, and cut off their fingers 
and slashed their bodies with a knife ; and, when they had sung, each man confessed 
how many men he had killed. That day, at Canagorah, there were most cruelly 
burned 4 men, 4 women, and one boy; the cruelty lasted about seven hours: when 
they were almost dead, letting them loose to the mercy of the boys, and taking the 
hearts of such as were dead to feast on. 

" Canoenada lies about 4 miles to the southward of Canagorah ; contains about 
30 houses, well furnished with corn. 

" Keint-he lies about 4 or 5 miles to the southward of Tistehatan ; contains 
about 24 houses, well furnished with corn. 

" The Senekas are counted to be in all about 1000 fighting men. 

"Whole force — Magas 3°° 

Oneydoes 200 

Onondagoes 35° 

Cayugas 3°° 

Senekas 1000 

2150 fighting men." § 

* Mr. Chalmers purports to derive 'the journal "trom New York papers," meaning, as is pre- 
sumed, the manuscripts of the New York " Board of Trade." 

[Note. — What is said of the " Maquas (Mohawks), Oneydoes, Onondagoes, and Cayugas," is 
omitted, and the journal commences with the Senecas.] 

f The Tistehatan, or bending river, must refer to the Genesee. 

\ Probably among the Swedes on the Delaware — Penn had not yet commenced his settlement. 

§ " Among the manuscripts of Sir William Johnson, there is a census of the northern and western 

9 



66 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

" Remark. — During the year 1685 an accurate account was taken by order of the 
Governor, of the people of Canada (New France); which amounted to 17,000, of 
whom 3000 were supposed to be able to carry arms. We may thence form a judg- 
ment with regard to the comparative strength of the two belligerent powers, whose 
wars were so long and destructive." — Chalmers s Annals. 



The Rev. Samuel Kirkland, whose name we have had occasion to introduce in 
connection with the antiquities of this region, left the mission station at Johnson's 
Hall, on the Mohawk, January 16th, 1765, in company with two Seneca Indians, upon 
a mission which embraced all the settlements of the Iroquois, travelling upon snow- 
shoes, carrying " a pack containing his provisions, a few articles of clothing, and a 
few books, weighing in all about forty pounds." Leaving the last vestige of civili- 
zation (Johnson's Hall), his only companions two Indians with whom he had had but a 
short acquaintance, the young missionary shaped his course to the westward, encamp- 
ing nights (with his two guides with whom he could hold no conversation except by 
signs), beneath hemlock boughs, and sleeping upon ground cleared from snow, for 
his temporary use. Arriving at Onondaga, the central council-fire of the Iroquois, 
a message from Sir William Johnson secured him a friendly reception. After re- 
maining there one day, the party left, and came on to Kanadasegea, the principal 
town of the Senecas. Halting at the skirts of the town (a courtesy that his, Mr. K.'s, 
Indian guides, told him by signs was customary), a messenger came out to inquire 
"whence they came, whither they were going, and what was their desire." His guides 
replied : " We are only bound to this place, and wish to be conducted to the house 
of the chief sachem." The embassy was conducted into the presence of the sachem, 
to whom, as at Onondaga, a message was delivered from Sir William Johnson. The 
reception was friendly, except with a few, " whose sullen countenances," Mr. K. says, 
" he did not quite like." The head sachem treated him with every kindness and 
attention, and it was, after much deliberation and consultation among the Indians, 
determined that he should fix his residence with them. Through a Dutch trader, 
who had preceded him, and located at Kanadasegea, he communicated freely with 
the Indians. A few weeks after his arrival, he was formally adopted as a member of 
the family of the head sachem. This adoption was attended with formalities — a 
council, speeches, etc. The council having assembled, " the head sachem's family be- 
ing present and sitting apart by themselves," Mr. Kirkland was waited upon and in- 
vited to attend. On his entrance, after a short silence, one of the chiefs spoke : 

" Brothers, open your ears and your eyes. You see here our white brother 
who has come from a great distance, recommended to us by our great chief, Sir 
William Johnson, who has enjoined it upon us to be kind to him, and to make him 
comfortable and protect him to the utmost of our power. He comes to do us good. 

Indians, from the Hudson River to the great lakes and the Mississippi, taken in 1763. The Mohawk 
warriors were then only 160 ; the Oneidas, 250; Tuscaroras, 140; Onondagas, 150; Cayugas, 200; 
Senecas, 1050; total, 1950. According to the calculation of a British agent, several of the tribes must 
have increased between the close of the French war and beginning of the American Revolution, as it 
was computed that, during the latter contest, the English had in service 300 Mohawks, 150 Oneidas, 
200 Tuscaroras, 300 Onondagas, 230 Cayugas, and 400 Senecas. 

[Note. — There can be but little doubt that the four villages mentioned by Mr. Greenhalph are 
those that were ten years afterwards destroyed by De Nonville. The over-estimate of distances made 
by this early adventurer, may be well attributed to the absence of any means to ascertain them cor- 
rectly. In the names, as given by De Nonville, and by Mr. Greenhalph, there is sufficient analogy to 
warrant the identity. 



comley's history of the state of NEW YORK. 67 

Brothers, this young white brother of ours has left his father's house, and his 
mother, and all his relations'; we must now provide for him a house; I am appointed 
to you and to our young white brother, that our head sachem adopts him into his 
family. He will be a father to him, and his wife will be a mother, and his sons and 
daughters, his brothers and sisters." 

The head sachem then rose, called him his son, and led him to his family. Mr. 
K. thanked him, and told him he hoped the Great Spirit would make him a blessing 
to his new relations. The zealous and enterprising young missionary says in his 
journal : "A smile of cheerfulness sat on every countenance, and I could not 
refrain from tears ; tears of joy and gratitude for the kind Providence that had pro- 
tected me through a long journey, brought me to the place of my desire, and given 
me so kind a reception among the poor savage Indians." 

Mr. K. applied himself diligently to learn the Seneca language, and by the help 
of two words, " atkayason" (what do you call this?), and "sointaschnagati" (speak it 
again), he made rapid progress. He was made very comfortable and treated very 
kindly. 

All things were going on well, but friendly relations were destined to an inter- 
ruption. The missionary had been assigned a residence with an Indian family, 
whose head was a man of much influence with his people ; " sober, industrious, 
honest, and telling no lies." Unfortunately, in a few days after Mr. K. had become 
an inmate of his wigwam, he sickened and died. Such of the Senecas as were 
jealous of the new-comer seized upon the circumstance to create prejudice against 
him, even alleging that the death was occasioned by his magic, or if not, that it was 
an " intimation of the displeasure of the Great Spirit at his visit and residence 
among them, and that he must be put to death." Councils were convened, there were 
days of deliberation, touching what disposition should be made of the missionary — 
the chief sachem proving his fast friend, and opposing all propositions to harm him. 
During the time, a Dutch trader, a Mr. Womp, on his way from Niagara east, 
stopped at Kanadasegea, and he was the only medium through which Mr. K. could 
learn, from day to day, the deliberations of the council. At length his friend, 
the sachem, informed him joyfully, that "all was peace." 

Some proceedings of the council afterward transpired, that Mr. Kirkland was 
enabled to preserve in his journal. It was opened by an address from the chief 
sachem : 

" Brothers, this is a dark day to us; a heavy cloud has gathered over us. The 
cheering rays of the sun are obscured ; the dim, faint light of the moon sympathizes 
with us. A great and awakening event has called us together, the sudden death of 
one of our best men ; a great breach is made in our Councils, a living example of 
peace, sobriety, and industry is taken from us. Our whole town mourns, for a good 
man is gone. He is dead. Our white brother had lived with him a few days. 
Our white brother is a good young man. He loves Indians. He comes recom- 
mended to us by Sir William Johnson, who is commissioned by the great king 
beyond the waters to be our superintendent. Brothers, attend ! The Great Spirit 
has supreme power over life. He, the upholder of the skies, has most certainly 
brought about this solemn event by his will, and without any other help, or second 
cause. Brothers, let us deliberate wisely ; let us determine with great caution. 
Let us take counsel under our great loss, with a tender mind. This is the best medi- 
cine and was the way of our fathers." 

A long silence ensued, which was broken by a chief of great influence, who 
was ambitious of supreme control. He made a long and inflammatory harangue 
against the missionary. Among other things, he said : 



68 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

"This white skia, whom we call our brother, has come upon a dark design, or 
he would not have travelled so many hundred miles. He brings with him the white 
people s Book. Thev call it God's Holy Book. Brothers, attend ! You know this 
book was never made for Indians. The Great Spirit gave us a book for ourselves. 
He wrote it in our heads. He put it into the minds of our fathers, and gave them 
rules about worshipping him ; and our fathers strictly observed these rules, and the 
Upholder of the skies was pleased, and gave them success in hunting, and made 
them victorious over their enemies in war. Brothers, attend ! Be assured that if we 
Senecas receive this white man, and attend to the Book made solely for white 
people, we shall become miserable. We shall soon lose the spirit of true men. 
The spirit of the brave warrior and the good hunter will be no more with us. We 
shall be sunk so low as to hoe corn and squashes in the field, chop wood, stoop 
down and milk cows, like the negroes among the Dutch people.* Brothers, hear 
me ! I am in earnest, because I love my nation, and the customs and practices of 
our fathers ; and they enjoyed pleasant and prosperous days. If we permit this white 
skin to remain among us, and finally embrace what is written in his book, it will 
be the complete subversion of our national character, as true men. Our ancient cus- 
toms, our religious feasts and offerings, all that our fathers so strictly observed, will 
be gone. Of this are we not warned by the sudden death of our good brother and 
wise sachem ? Does not the Upholder of the skies plainly say to us in this : 
' Hear, attend, ye Senecas ! Behold, I have taken one, or permitted one to be taken 
from among you in an extraordinary manner, which you cannot account for, and 
thereby to save the nation '? Brothers, listen to what I say. Ought not this white 
man's life to make satisfaction for our deceased brother's death ?" 

A long discussion and investigation followed. Mr. Kirkland's papers were 
carried to the council-house and examined; the widow of the deceased was ques- 
tioned : she gave a good account of the " young white brother," said " he was always 
cheerful and pleasant, and they had begun to love him much." Said one of the 
opponents of Mr. K., " Did he never come to your husband's bedside and whisper in 
his ears or puff in his face ?" " No, never, he always sat, or lay down, on his own 
bunk, and in the evening after we were in bed, we would see him get down upon 
his knees and talk with a low voice." This testimony, and the closing speech of the 
head sachem, brought matters to a favorable issue. The speech was an able reply to 
Onoongwandeka — not in opposition to his views, as to the effect generally of admit- 
ting the white man and his Book, but generally, in reference to the witchcraft and 
sorcery charged upon Mr. Kirkland, in connection with the sudden death of his 
host. The speech bore down all opposition, and was followed by shouts and 

* The Indian orator had probably been to Schenectady and Albany, and observed the slaves 
among the Dutch. 

Note. — The author derives this account of the primitive advent of a Protestant missionary 
among the Senecas from Sparks's American Biography. The name of the chief sachem of Kanada- 
segea — Mr. Kirkland's adopted father and friend — does not transpire. The chief who so eloquently 
spoke for his nation, and ingeniously wrought upon the jealousy and superstition of the council, was 
Onoongwandeka. The speeches are given (as is what else transpired at the time) as communicated 
to Mr. Kirkland by Mr. Womp. The reader will bear in mind that in this case, as well as in all 
reports of the speeches of uneducated Indians, the reporters have but caught the ideas of the native 
orators, and substituted their own manner of expression. An eloquent idea — a beautiful figure of 
speech — can, of course, only be faithfully reported in corresponding words and sentences. For 
instance, we are not to suppose that the Seneca sachem said, " the dim faint light of the moon sym- 
pathizes with us," but he did probably make use of a beautiful figure of speech that justified Mr. 
Kirkland in such an interpretation. 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 69 

applause, in which only fifteen refused to participate. The chief sachem said, li Out- 
business is done. I rake up the council-fire." 

After this, Mr. Kirkland "lived in great harmony, friendship, and sociability. 
Another trouble ensued in the shape of a famine. The corn crop for the year 
previous had been short, and game was scarce at that season of the year (March). 
He wrote to a friend that he had " sold a shirt for four Indian cakes, baked in the 
ashes, which he could have devoured at one meal, but on the score of prudence had 
ate only one." He lived for days, on "white-oak acorns, fried in bear's grease." 
He gives a long detail of suffering and privation, as severe as any of his Jesuit pre- 
decessors had endured; which terminated in making a return journey through the 
wilderness to Johnson Hall, where he procured a supply of provisions. 

Mr. Kirkland was a missionary among the Six Nations for eight years previous 
to the Revolution ; during that struggle he was useful in diverting some portions 
of them from adhering to the British interests ; and his name and services are often 
blended in the Indian treaties that followed after the war, and resulted in the 
extinguishment of their title to lands in Western New York. 

Its first State constitution was adopted April 20th, 1777, and De Witt Clinton was 
elected its first governor, and continued in office till 1795. The Articles of Confedera- 
tion for the States were approved by New York in February, 1778. Both in the army 
and the Continental Congress the State was represented by men of rare ability and 
patriotism. In the Constitutional Convention which formed the Federal Constitution 
her delegates were Messrs. Yates, Lansing, and Alexander Hamilton. The Consti- 
tution was ratified by New York, July 26th, 1788. John Jay, already illustrious as a 
statesman, was chosen governor in 1795. The practicability of steam navigation was 
demonstrated on the Hudson in 1807 by Robert Fulton. In the war with Great 
Britain (1812-15) New York took an active part, and, aside from the victories gained 
by her heroes on the ocean, many of the minor conflicts and the important land and 
naval battle of Plattsburg were fought along its northern and north-western fron- 
tier. The battle of Lundy's Lane, one of the most decisive of the war, was fought 
on the Canada side of Niagara River, less than two miles from the Falls. Soon 
after the war, the project for a canal from Albany to Buffalo, which had been pre- 
viously broached, was revived, and in 181 7 both the Erie and the Champlain canal 
were commenced and pushed forward to completion, the latter in 1823, and the 
former, with great rejoicings, in 1825. A constitutional convention was held in 182 1, 
and a new constitution adopted and ratified by the people. The anti-Masonic ex- 
citement in 1826 caused a great commotion and many political changes in the State. 
The popularitv of the Erie and Champlain canals led to a great pressure upon the 
State for the 'construction of other canals, unwarranted by the business of the 
regions through which they were to pass. In an evil hour they were commenced, 
and have ever since been a constant source of loss to the State. The enlargement of 
the Erie Canal, begun in 1835, has increased the cost of that great work to $100,000,000, 
but with advantages perhaps commensurate with its cost. In 1846, another constitu- 
tional convention was held, and a new constitution, differing materially from the 
preceding, adopted and ratified by the people. The interest in public schools con- 
tinued to increase, and the appropriations voted and taxes levied for their promo- 
tion were enlarged every year. 

In 1845, the annual expenditure for public schools was $1,240,000; in 1875, as 
we show elsewhere, $11,365,000, or nearly tenfold. The collection of rate-bills was 
finally abolished in about 1850, and the schools sustained wholly by tax and ap- 
propriations from funds. At the commencement of the late civil war, New York 



70 



COM LEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



took an active and prominent part in its aid, and her people were to a greater extent 
than those of most of the States united in sustaining the government. Her immense 
quotas were promptly filled, and the State paid $40,000,000 in bounties to its volun- 
teers. The so-call "Draft riot " of 1863 in New York City (see New York City) was 
prompted by other causes than fear of the draft, and was promptly suppressed. In 
her liberality and bountiful care of her own wounded or sick soldiers during the 
war, and of their suffering families, the State was not surpassed by any other. In 
1867, another constitutional convention was held, and a new constitution promul- 
gated, which was, however, rejected by the people, except the articles on the judi- 
ciary, which were incorporated into the constitution of 1846, which is yet the gov- 
erning law of the State, though some further amendments have been adopted. 



GOVERNORS OF THE COLONY AND STATE. 



(Those marked with a star (*) died in office.) 



(1) Under the Dutch. 



Piter Minuit. . . 1624-33 

Wouter Van Twiller 1633-37 

Willem Keift T637-47 

Petrus Stuyvesant 1647-64 

(2) Under tin- English. 

Richard Nicolls 1664-67 

Francis Lovelace .... 1667-73 

(3) Dutch administration resumed. 
Anthony Colve 1673-74 



(4) 



English administration resumed. 



Edmond Andross 1674-S3 

Thomas Dongan 1683-88 

Edmond Andross 16S8-89 

Jacob Leisler 1689-91 

Henry Sloughter* 1691-91 

Richard Ingoldsby 1691-92 

Benjamin Fletcher 1692-98 

Richard, Earl Bellemont* 1698-1701 

John Nanfan 1701-02 

Lord Cornbury. 1702-08 

John, Lord Lovelace* 1708-09 

Richard Ingoldsby 1709-10 

Gerardus Beekman 1710-10 

Rooert Hunter 1710-19 

Peter Schuyler 1719-20 

William Burnet* 1720-2S 

John Montgomerie* 1728-31 

Rip van Dam 1731-32 

William Cosby* 1732-36 

George Clarke 1 736-43 

George Clinton I743 _ 53 

Sir Danvers Osborne'"' 1753-53 

James De Lancey I753~55 

Sir Charles Hardy I755~57 



James De Lancey* 1757-60 

Cadwallader Colden 1760-61 

Robert Markton 1 761-61 

Cadwallader Colden 1761-65 

Sir Henry Moore* 1765-69 

Cadwallader Colden 1769-70 

John, Lord Dunmore. 1770-71 

William Tryon 1771-77 

(5) Governors of the State. 

George Clinton 1777—95 

John Jay .... 1795-1801 

George Clinton 1S01-04 

Morgan Lewis 1804-07 

Daniel D. Tompkins 1807-17 

De Witt Clinton 1S17-22 

Joseph C. Yates 1822-24 

De Witt Clinton* 1824-28 

Nathaniel Pitcher 1828-29 

Martin Van Buren 1S29-29 

Enos T. Throop 1829-33 

William L. Marcy 1S33-3S 

William H. Seward 183S-42 

William C. Bouck 1842-44 

Silas Wright, Jr 1S44-46 

John Young 1S46-49 

Hamilton Fish 1849-51 

Washington Hunt 1S51— 53 

Horatio Seymour 1853-55 

Myron H. Clark 1855-57 

John A King 1S57-59 

Edwin D. Morgan. ... 1859 63 

Horatio Seymour 1863-65 

Reuben E. Fenton 1S65-69 

John T. Hoffman 1869-73 

John Adams Dix . . .1873-75 

Samuel J. Tjlden 1875-77 

Lucius Robinson 1877- 



comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. y\ 



GREAT CITIES. 

Great cities grow up in nations and in states as the mature offspring of well- 
directed civil and commercial agencies, and in their natural development they 
become vital organs in the world's government and civilization, performing the 
highest functions of human life on the earth. They grow up where human faculties 
and natural advantages are most effective. They have a part in the grand march of 
the human race pecidiar to themselves in making the progress of mankind in arts, 
commerce, and civilization ; and they embellish history with its richest pages of learn- 
ing, and impress on the mind of the scholar and the student the profoundest lessons 
of the rise and fall of nations. They have formed in all ages the great centres of 
industrial and intellectual life, from which mighty outgrowths of civilization have 
expanded. In short, they are the mightiest works of man. And whether we view 
them wrapped in the flames of the conqueror and surrounded with millions of 
earnest hearts yielding, in despair, to the wreck of fortune and life at the fading 
away of expiring glory or the sinking of a nation into oblivion ; or whether we con- 
template them in the full vigor of prosperity, with steeples piercing the very 
heavens, with royal palaces, gilded halls, and rich displays of wealth and learning, 
they are ever wonderful objects of man's creation — ever impressing, with profound- 
est conviction, lessons of human greatness and human glory. In their greatness 
they have been able to wrestle with all human time. We have only to go with Vol- 
ney through the Ruins of Empire, to trace the climbing path of man from his first 
appearance on the fields of history to the present day, by the evidences we find along 
his pathway in the ruins of the great cities — the creation of his own hands. The 
lessons of magnitude and durability which great cities teach may be more clearly 
realized in the following eloquent passage from a lecture of Louis Kossuth, delivered 
in New York City : 

" How wonderful ! What a present and what a future yet ! Future ? Then let 
me stop at this mysterious word — the veil of unrevealed eternity. The shadow of 
that dark word passed across my mind, and amid the bustle of this gigantic bee- 
hive, there I stood with meditation alone. 

" And the spirit of the immovable past rose before my eyes, unfolding the pic- 
ture rolls of vanished greatness, and the fragility of human things. And among 
their dissolving views there I saw the scorched soil of Africa, and upon that soil, 
Thebes, with its hundred gates, more splendid than the most splendid of all the 
existing cities of the world — Thebes, the pride of old Egypt, the first metropolis of 
arts and sciences, and the mysterious cradle of so many doctrines, which still rule 
mankind in different shapes, though it has long forgotten their source. 

"Then I saw Syria, with its hundred cities; every city a nation, every nation 
with an empire's might. Baalbec, with its gigantic temples, the very ruins of which 
baffle the imagination of man as they stand, like mountains of carved rocks, in the 
deserts where, for hundreds of miles, not a stone is to be found, and no river flows, 
offering its tolerant back to carry a mountain's weight upon. And yet there they 
stand, those gigantic ruins ; and as we glance at them with astonishment, though we 
have mastered the mysterious elements of nature, and know the combination of 
levers, and how to catch the lightning, and how to command the power of steam and 
compressed air, and how to write with the burning fluid out of which the thunder- 



72 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

bolt is forged, and how to dive to the bottom of the ocean, and how to rise up to the 
sky, cities like London and Pekin dwindle to the modest proportion of a child's toy, 
so that Ave are tempted to take the nice little thing upon the nail of our thumb, as 
Microgemas did the man of wax. 

"Though we know all this, and many things else, still, looking at the times of 
Baalbec, we cannot forbear to ask, ' What people of giants was that which could do 
what neither the puny efforts of our skill nor the ravaging hand of unrelenting time 
can undo through thousands of years ? ' 

"And then I saw the dissolving picture of Nineveh, with its ramparts now cov- 
ered with mountains of sand, where Lavard has dug up colossal winged bulls, large as 
a mountain, and yet carved with the nicety of a cameo ; and then Babylon, with its 
beautiful walls; and Jerusalem, with its unequalled temples; Tyrus, with its count- 
less fleets; Arad, with its wharves; and Sidon, with its labyrinth of workshops and 
factories ; and Ascalon, and Gaza, and Beyrout, and, farther off, Persepolis, with its 
world of palaces." 

The first great cities of the world were built by a race of men inferior to those 
which now form the dominant civilization of the earth, yet there are many ruins of 
a mould superior, both in greatness and mechanical skill, to those which belong to 
the cities of our own day, as found in the marble solitudes of Palmyra and the sand- 
buried cities of Egypt. It is true, however, that ancient grandeur grew out of a 
system of idolatry and serf-labor, controlled by selfish despot or blind priesthood, 
which compelled useless display of greatness in most public improvements. In our 
age, labor is directed more to practical wisdom than of old, which creates the useful 
more than the ornamental : hence, we have the Crystal Palace instead of the Pyra- 
mids. 

But, leaving the ancient cities, we are led to inquire, " Where will grow up the 
future great city of the world ?" At the very outset of this inquiry it is necessary 
to clearly comprehend a few underlying facts connected with the cities of the past 
and those now in existence, and note the influence of the more important arts and 
sciences that bear upon man's present intellectual and industrial interests, and, if 
possible, to determine the tendency of the world's civilization toward the unfolding 
future. 

The first great fact we meet with is, that the inevitable tendency of man upon 
the earth has been to make the circuit of the globe by going westward, within an 
isothermal belt or zodiac of equal temperature, which encircles the earth in the 
north temperate zone. Within this belt has already been embraced more than three 
fourths of the world's civilization, and now about 950,000,000 people. It is along 
this belt that the processions of nations, in time, have moved forward, with reason 
and order, " in a predetermined, a solemn march, in which all have joined ; ever 
moving and ever resistlessly advancing, encountering and enduring an inevitable 
succession of events." 

It is along this axis of the isothermal temperate zone of the northern hemi- 
sphere that revealed civilization makes the circuit of the globe. Here the continents 
expand, the oceans contract. This zone contains the zodiac of empires; along its 
axis, at distances scarcely varying one hundred leagues, appear the great cities of 
the world, from Pekin in China to San Francisco in America. 

" During antiquity this zodiac was narrow ; it never expanded beyond the 
North African shore, nor beyond the Pontic Sea. the Danube, and the Rhine. 



comley's history of the state of new york. 73 

Along this narrow belt civilization planted its system, from Oriental Asia to the 
western extremity of Europe, with more or less perfect development. 

" Modern times have recently seen it widen to embrace the region of the Baltic 
Sea. In America, it starts with the broad front from Cuba to Hudson Bay. As in 
all previous times, it advances along a line central to these extremes, in the densest 
form, and with the greatest celerity. Here are the chief cities of intelligence and 
power, the greatest intensity of energy and progress. Science has recently very 
perfectly established, by observation, this axis of the isothermal temperate zone. It 
reveals to the world this shining fact, that along it civilization has travelled, as by 
an inevitable instinct of nature, since Creation's dawn. From this line has radiated 
intelligence of mind to the North and to the South, and toward it all people have 
struggled to converge. Thus, in harmony with the supreme order of nature, is 
the mind of man instinctively adjusted to the revolutions of the sun and tempered 
by its heat." 

"Through the ages one increasing purpose runs, 
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns." 

It is a noteworthy observation of Dr. Draper, in his work on the "Civil War in 
America," that within a zone, a few degrees wide, having for its axis the January 
isothermal line of forty-one degrees, all great men in Europe and Asia have 
appeared. He might have added, with equal truth, that within the same zone have 
existed all those great cities which have exerted a powerful influence upon the 
world's history as centres of civilization and intellectual progress. The same inex- 
orable but subtle law of climate which makes greatness in the individual unattain- 
able . in a temperature hotter or colder than a certain golden mean affects in like 
manner, with even more certainty, the development of those concentrations of the 
intellect of man which we find in great cities. If the temperature is too cold, the slug- 
gish torpor of the intellectual and physical nature precludes the highest develop- 
ment ; if the temperature is too hot, the fiery fickleness of nature, which warm 
climates produce in the individual, is typical of the swift and tropical growth and 
sudden and severe decay and decline of cities exposed to the same all-powerful 
influence. Beyond that zone of moderate temperature the human life resembles 
more closely that of the animal, as it is forced to combat with extremes of cold or 
to submit to extremes of heat; but within that zone the highest intellectual activity 
and culture are displayed. It is not, then, a fact of no little import that the very axis 
of this zone — the centre of equilibrium between excess of heat and cold — the January 
isothermal line of forty-one degrees — passes near to the city of New York. Close to 
that same isothermal line lie London, Paris, Rome, Constantinople, and Pekin, 
Philadelphia, Chicago, and San Francisco. Thus favored in climate, lying in the 
very centre of that belt of intellectual activity beyond which neither great man nor 
great city has yet appeared, New York may, with reason, be expected to attain the 
higher rank, if other conditions favor. 

A second underlying fact that presents itself is, that nearly all the great cities 
of the world have been built upon rivers, whether in the interior or near the ocean's 
edge; such as Babylon on the Euphrates; Thebes, on the Nile; Nineveh, on the 
Tigris; Rome, on the Tiber; Paris, on the Seine; London, on the Thames; New 
York, on the Hudson; St. Louis, on the Mississippi; Cincinnati, on the Ohio; and 
Constantinople, on the Bosphorus ; while Carthage, St. Petersburg, Chicago, and 



10 



74 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

Cleveland belong to interior waters, and Palmyra and the City of Mexico to the 
interior country. 

A third fundamental fact is, that the arts and sciences do more to develop cities 
and multiply population upon the seaboard, than upon interior cities. Steam- 
engines, labor-saving machines, books, the value and use of metals, government, the 
enforcement of laws and other means of self-protection all have tended more to 
make the people of the seaboard more numerous, powerful, and wealthy than those 
who dwell in the interior. 

A fourth fundamental fact is, that to all modern civilization domestic transpor- 
tation by water and rail is more valuable to nations of large territorial extent than 
ocean navigation. This fact is founded not only upon the assumption that a nation's 
interests are of more importance to itself than to any other nation, and it hence 
necessarily does more business at home than abroad, but also upon the fact that the 
exchanges of domestic produce within this country, it is estimated, already exceed in 
value six thousand millions a year. 

With every year, as the country advances in population and industry, its 
domestic exchanges gain upon its foreign. 

New York, like ancient Rome, once with its 10,000,000 population, is destined 
to be flanked and surrounded with a galaxy or cordon of continental cities. Boston, 
Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Newark, Baltimore, Washington, Albany, 
Troy, are a few of these satellites, that in the future are to pay tribute to this 
centre — taking in view the fact of their vast material resources, and these being the 
centre of the great fruit, agricultural, and wine belt of the continent. The people — 
the Teutonic and Celtic races — are the pioneer people in all the departments of 
human industry, politics, culture, theology. We apprehend that the most acute 
vision, even were that mind in harmony with the spirit of the times, and enabled 
through that means to look back through the dim geologic history of the past, 
when the economic laws were piling the iron atom by atom in these iron mountains, 
growing the dense flora of the coal plants, repleting the veins of lead, zinc, copper, 
tin, silver, and gold ; and at the same time comprehend the ridge, valley, spring, 
prairie, timber, and river systems ; and was enabled to go back in the ethnography 
and heraldry of these populations, and could fuse these elements or facts in the 
future, and at the same time realize the grandeur of the empires of the past — the 
Persian, under Cyrus; the Macedonian, under Alexander the Great; the Roman, 
under the Republic and the twelve Caesars — that the truth would be forced upon 
the mind, that in the future this great valley of the Hudson will include the centre 
of an empire before which, in wealth, power, and grandeur, all these shall pale ; 
that New York, sitting like a queen on the banks of the great Hudson, will be the 
central city of this people, the tidal waves of whose civilization will roll to China 
and Japan on the West, and to the Bosphorus on the East ; and with her continental 
railroad system, her telegraphs over mountains and under oceans, her vast water 
communications, will radiate law and order, and become the leading national and 
commercial metropolis of the Western hemisphere. 



comley's history of the state of new york. 75 

NEW YORK CITY 

[The New Amsterdam of the Dutch], the chief commercial city in the United 
States, and the most populous, is situated at the junction of the Hudson or North 
River and the extension of Long Island Sound, familiarly known as the East River. 
The limits of the city and county (of the same name) are identical, and include the south- 
ern portion of the mainland (late part of Westchester County), known as the towns 
of Morrisania, West Farms, and King's Bridge, together with the islands Manhattan, 
Blackwell, Ward, Randall, Bedloe, Ellis, and Governor's, of which the three last- 
named have been ceded for Federal purposes to the Government of the U. S. Its 
extensive and sheltered harbor, eighteen miles distant from the Atlantic Ocean at 
Sandy Hook, is knov i all over die world for its natural beauty and great com- 
mercial advantages. ' An observation taken by the distinguished astronomer, Mr. 
Lewis M Rutherfu-rd, at his observatory, corner of Second avenue and Eleventh 
street, gives lat. 40 43' 48" + 0.31" N., Ion. W. 4 h. 55m. 55.73s. from Greenwich. 
Its distance from Albany, the capital of the State, is 150 miles. 

Area.— The total area of the city before the recent additions from Westchester 
County was 22 square miles, or 14,000 acres. The additions amount to 13,000 acres. 
That of Manhattan Island, the seat of population, and divided from the mainland by 
the Harlem River, is 22 square miles and 20,424 square yards. Of this, 8,712,000 
yards are devoted to public parks. The length of the island is 13! miles; its width 
averages if miles. It is by survey divided into 141,486 lots. The outlying islands 
are set aside for public purposes, almshouses, penitentiaries, etc. They contain 
about 300 acres; those ceded to the Government, 100 acres. By Governor Mont- 
o-omerie's charter, Jan. 15th, 1730, the city was divided into 7 wards, which were, re- 
spectively, West, South, Dock, East, North, Montgomerie, and the Outward. It is 
now divided into 24 wards, which are designated by their numbers— 1, 2, etc. The 
population by decennials is reported by the U. S. census as in 



1790 '• 33,131 

1S00 60,489 

1810 9 6 ,373 

1820 123,706 

1830 197,112 



1840 312,710 

1850 515,547 

i860 813,669 

1870 942,292 

1875 1,046,037 



Of the last statement, 426,168 were foreign-born— 262,577 British and Irish, and 170,- 
143 German, the rest of other nations 

Commerce. — Nearly 60 per cent of the foreign trade of the country passes 
through this port. Of the total imports for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1874, 
amounting to $595,861,248 for all the U. S., $395,133,622 were by New York, against 
$200,727,6^26 for all other ports; of the total exports, amounting to $704,463,120 for 
all the U. S., $340,360,260 were by New York, against $364,102,851 for all other 
ports; the total aggregate of inward and outward trade being for all the U. S. 
$1,300,324,368, of which New York had $735,493,882, and all other ports $564,830,477. 
This foreign trade was in the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1874, divided geographi- 
cally as follows: Imports from the American continent, $117,524,419; exports to 
same, $45,999,356; total American foreign trade, $163,5 23,775. Imports from Europe, 
$245,130,885; exports to same, $288,581,107; total European trade, $533>7 II >99 2 - 



•j6 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

Imports from Asia, $31,275,679; exports to same, $4,823,683; total Asian trade, 
$36,099,362. Imports from Africa, $1,202,639; exports to same, $956,123; total 
African trade, $2,158,762. The importation of sugar at the port of New York for 
the same fiscal year was valued at $49,293,625 ; of molasses, at $3,066,551 ; of coffee, 
at $33,485,559; o f tea, at $15,024,794; imports of wool, raw, $3,956,458, and manu- 
factured, $37,191,046 ; of silk and silk manufactures, $24,155,711 ; of manufactures 
of cotton, $23,709,180; of flax, $14,376,173; of iron and steel, $17,783,924. The 
principal exports for the same period were of cotton, valued at $41,499,597 ; of wheat 
and wheat flour, $77,273,214 ; of Indian corn and meal, $14,876,603 ; total breadstuffs, 
$91,332,669; cheese, $11,624,406; bacon and hams, $23,202,938; beef and pork, 
$5,366,603; lard and tallow, $20,319,514; of tobacco, $16,117,749; of illuminating 
oils, $23,121,059. The imports of coin (larger than for some years previous, in 
consequence of the commercial depression of 1873), $ J 8,4oi,242, and the exports 
$5°>359'394- Of the total imports, $280,187,426 were of duty-paying articles, and 
$114,946,196 of articles free of duty; of the duty-paying articles, $276,770,129 were 
entered for immediate consumption, and $113,351,459 were entered for warehouses. 
The proportion of imports in cars and vehicles was $70,039 ; of imports in American 
vessels, $90,131,181; and in foreign vessels, $304,932,402. Of the total exports, 
$54,436,965 were exported in American vessels, and $285,923,304 in foreign vessels. 

The number of entrances of American and foreign vessels — ocean, steam, and 
sail — at the port of New York for the year ending June 30th, 1874, was 6723, tonning 
5,049,618 tons, and handled by crews amounting in the total to 148,246 men; of the 
vessels, 4290 were foreign, and 2433 American. Of ocean steam vessels there were 
entered 1108, tonning 2,792,367, and with crews amounting to 88,042 ; of these steam 
vessels, 887 were foreign, and 231 American. The most numerous entrances of ves- 
sels were from England, 1087, tonning 1,725,272 ; from Cuba, 1375, tonning 593,476; 
from Germany, 412, tonning 678,287 ; from Scotland, 197, tonning 363,797 ; and from 
France, 266, tonning 237,105 tons. Of the 877 entrances of foreign steam vessels, 
there were 386 from England, tonning 1,275,072 tons; 168 from Germany, of 524,- 
451; 129 from Scotland, of 332,339; and 33 from||France, of 113,449 tons. Of the 231 
entrances of American vessels, all, with one exception, were from the West Indies 
and South America. The registered tonnage of the custom districts of New York 
was 6630 vessels, of 1,318,523.34 tons, of which 558 were licensed under 20 tons. Of 
these there were 2810 sailing vessels, with a tonnage of 600,020,421 ; 788 steam ves- 
sels, tonnage 351,686.06; 546 barges, tonnage 123,535.58; 2486 canal boats, tonnage 
243,281.18. The coastwise trade engaged 2742 vessels, tonning 1,774,181 tons, of 
which 1583 were steam vessels, with a tonnage of 1,517,481, and 1159 sailing vessels, 
tonning 256,700. The ship-building for the year ending June 30th, 1874, comprised 89 
sailing vessels, 60 steam vessels (of which 39 were for river purposes and 21 for ocean 
navigation), 196 canal boats, and 51 barges — a total of 396 of all kinds, tonning 64,- 
001.55 tons. 

The transportation to tide-water on the canals from Western States and the in- 
terior of New York State amounted in the year 1874 to 3,323,112 tons, and the re- 
turns from tide-water to the interior to 753,981 tons. This transportation has been 
maintained with moderate fluctuations for many years. The arrivals of immigrants 
at the port were, in 1874, from all ports, 149,762, against 266,449 in J 873, 294,581 in 
1872, 228,962 in 1871, and 209,788 in 1870. Of the arrivals in 1874, 41,368 were from 
Germany, 41,179 from Ireland, 19,822 from England, and 7723 from Russia. A new 
feature in American immigration is the religious movement of Mennonites, whose 
faith forbids their taking military service. 



COMLEV'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



77 



DOMESTIC EXPORTS FROM THE PORT OF NEW YORK FOR THE LAST TWENTY- 
ONE YEARS. 



) 'ear ending June 30///. 



1856 $9 8 .763,i97 I 

1857 111,029,083 I 

1858 83,403,564 

1859 97,461,576 

i860 120,630,955 

1861 137.379,956 I 

1S62 152,377.961 

1863 221,917,978 

1864 211,237,222 

1865 219.379,873 

1S66 264,510,247' 



1867 $207,382,457 

1S68 236,031,239 

1869 1S5. 384,264 

1870 209,972.491 

1871 285,530,775 

1872 270,413,674 

1S73 313,129,963 

1874 340,360,269 

1875 329,201,913 

1876 294,705,902 



FOREIGN EXPORTS FROM THE PORT OF NEW YORK FOR THE LAST TWENTY- 
ONE YE^RS. 

Year ending June 30th. 



1856 $6,098,602 

1857 13,360,384 

185S 17,299,097 

1859 9,016,853 

i860 17.514.6S9 

1S61 13,311,495 

1S62 5,069,953 

1863 17,369,353 

1864 12,735,640 

1865 22,627,018 

1866 



1867 

1868 $15,016,273 

1869 17,741 836 

1870 20,339.410 

1871 20,087,211 

1872 15,161,218 

1873 18,972,099 

1874 14,633,463 

1875 15,502,056 

1876 13,868,321 



Note.— The Re- Exports of the Customs Districts for the years 1866 and 1867 were not given. 

FOREIGN IMPORTS AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK FOR THE LAST TWENTY- 
ONE YEARS. 

Year ending June 30///. 



1856 $195,645,515 

1857 222,550,307 

185S 170,280.887 

1859 218,231,093 

i860 233,692,941 

1861 189,064.817 

1862 142,215,636 

1863 177,254,415 

1864 229,506,499 

1865 154,139,409 

1866 302,505,719 



1867 $277,469,510 

1868 242,580,659 

1869 295,117,682 

1870 293,990.006 

1871 357,909.770 

1872 418,515,829 

1873 426,321,427 

1874 395,133,622 

1875 368,637,580 

1876 311,712,910 



78 



comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 



RECEIPTS OF DOMESTIC PRODUCE AT NEW YORK FOR THE YEAR 1876. 



ARTICLES. 



Breadstuffs : 

Flour, bbls 3,982,707 

Wheat, bush 26,411,296 

Corn, bush 26,645,599 

Oats, bush 12,168,809 

Barley, bush 4,840,095 

Barley Malt, bush 2.009,824 

Rye, bush 1,753,032 

Buckwheat, bush 18, 347 

Peas, bush 1,177,120 

Black-Eyed Peas, bags 5,37s 

Beans, bbls 111,253 

Oat Meal, bbls. and sacks 9 2 »999 

Corn Meal, bbls 178, 145 

Corn Meal, sacks 158,676 

Buckwheat Flour, sacks 30,389 

Hops, bales 86,910 

Naval Stores : 

Crude Turpentine, bbls 3.962 

Spirits of Turpentine, bbls 74,795 

Pitch, bbls 3,357 

Tar, bbls 18,561 

Rosin, bbls 386,242 

Lard Oil, bbls 11,785 

Oil Cake, bags 460,303 

Live Stock : 

Beeves, No 463,671 

Hogs, Live, No 1,222,657 

Sheep, No 1,211,086 

Calves, No 110,84s 

Cows, No 4,051 

Provisions : 

Pork, bbls 200,994 

Beef, tcs 52,097 

Beef, bbls 37,627 

Beef, cases 108, 1 1 5 

Beef Hams, bbls 10,671 

Lard, tcs 397,245 



ARTICLES. 

Provisions (Continued). 

Lard, bbls 2,115 

Lard, kegs 27,427 

Lard, cases 19, 997 

Bellies, tcs 1,077 

Bellies, bxs 2,701 

Middles, tcs 12,075 

Middles, bxs 386,88s 

Hams, tcs 3°,677 

Hams, bbls 5,4^4 

Hams, bxs 49,829 

Tongues, bbls 12,701 

Tongues, kegs 578 

Shoulders, tcs 3,159 

Shoulders, bxs 16,633 

Backs, bxs 3,786 

Butter, pkgs 1,289,889 

Cheese, pkgs 2,178,989 

Eggs, pkgs 500,072 

Tallow, hhds 11,236 

Tallow, tcs 5,547 

Tallow, bbls 58,694 

Tallow, casks 4,360 

Stearine, hhds 285 

Stearine, tcs 19,951 

Stearine, bbls 3,439 

Stearine, casks !,°77 

Grease, hhds 715 

Grease, tcs 12, 449 

Grease, bbls 1S.409 

Grease, casks 1, 182 

Dressed Hogs, No 52,287 

Seeds: 

Clover and Timothy, bush 208,497 

Flax Seed, bags 110,885 

Whisky 51,434 

High Wines 74, 229 

Alcohol 25,784 



EXPORTS OF PRODUCE FROM NEW YORK FOR THE YEAR 1S76. 



ARTICLES. 

Breadstuffs : 

Bread, pkgs 143,962 

Flour, Wheat, bbls 1,947,272 

Flour, Rye, bbls 7,634 

Corn Meal, bbls 174,608 

Wheat, bush 24,945,715 

Corn, bush 16,470,935 

Oats, bush 683,616 

Barley, bush 1 17,815 

Rye, bush 1,412,673 

Peas, bush 1,149,970 

Beans, bush 222,400 

Grass Seeds, bags '35,475 

Oatmeal, bbls 26,724 

Cotton, bales 456,862 

Hops, bales 4I1865 

N \v\i. Stores : 

Crude Turpentine, bbls 232 

Spirits Turpentine, bbls 20,564 

Rosin, bbls 256,774 

Pitch, bbls 6, 192 

Tar, bbls 6,634 



ARTICLES. 



Oils 



Lard Oil, gals 100,621 

Residuum, gals 2,514,870 

Naphtha, gals 9,018,131 

Benzine, gals 143,973 

Petroleum. Crude, gals io,6oS,2o6 

Petroleum, Refined, gais 123,665,776 

Oil Cake, lbs 177,005,666 

Oil Meal, lbs 2,949,320 

Provisions ; 

Pork, bbls 201,30c 

Beef, bbls I57, 8 44 

Bacon, lbs. / 

Hams, lbs. \ 225, 945, 955 

Butter, lbs 14,254,615 

Cheese, lbs 106,194,063 

Lard, lbs 155,662,971 

Stearine, lbs 307, 7 l6 

Grease, lbs 3,706,934 

Tallow, lbs 60,660,315 

Alcohol, bbls 3,550 



COMLEV'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 79 

Manufactures. — No returns of the State census of 1875 have been officially 
given, showing the amount of manufactures of different kinds in the city of New 
York. The following are taken from the U. S. census of 1870 : there were then 7624 
establishments, 1261 steam-engines, 16 water-wheels, employing 129,577 hands, at an 
annual outlay in wages of $63,824,049, and a capital valued at $129,952,262. The 
value of materials used was $178,696,939, and the annual product, $332,951,520. 

Finances. — The official valuation of the property of the city for the purpose of 
taxation was for 1875, real, $883,643,845 ; personal, $217,300, 154 ; total, $1,100,943,699. 
The taxes levied were, for State purposes, $8,012,386 ; for county and city, $28,159,- 
086.23 ; for deficiencies, $196,272.52 ; total, $36,367,744.75. The total expenditures 
for the city government were, $32,171,472.23 ; of which the principal items were, for 
interest on city debt, $9,300,000; for redemption of same, $1,454,763.33; Public 
Works, $1,582,000; Public Charities and Corrections, $1,183,000 ; Police Depart- 
ment, $3,387,325 ; Fire Department, $1,316,000; Board of Education, $3,583,000; 
Asylums, etc., $825,905 ; street cleaning, $800,000. 

There are 59 banks in the city of New York, with a capital, on December 31st, 
1874, of $85,166,100; a circulation of $24,977,300, and deposits to the amount of 
$165,918,700. These banks are associated in a clearing-house for their daily ex- 
changes. The transactions of this organization from October 1st, 1873, to October 
1st, 1874, amounted to $20,850,681,962.82. There is also a gold exchange connected 
with the clearing-house, the transactions of which amount to the sum of $2,226,832,- 
247.89 for the year 1874. There are also 44 savings banks in New York City, with 
deposits amounting to $180,010,703, from 494,086 depositors. There 9 marine in- 
surance companies, with assets reported December 31st, 1874, as $25,035,785.62. 
There are 74 fire insurance companies, with assets reported December 31st, 1874, at 
$44,696,827.73. There are also 20 life insurance companies, with assets reported 
December 31st, 1874, at $189,813,949.93; these companies issued 16,197 policies in 
1874, for $41,388,349, and had outstanding at the close of the vear 99,737 policies for 
an amount of $279,811,858. The business of Brooklyn companies is not here in- 
cluded, nor that of companies of other States or foreign companies, either fire, ma- 
rine, or life, the city details of which are not reported. 

City Courts. — The United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of 
New York has ten counties under its jurisdiction, and holds two general terms and 
one criminal and equity term each year. The United States District Court holds a 
general term monthly and a special term weekly. Both of these courts occupy 
rooms in the new Post-office. The courts under State law are elected under a gen- 
eral judiciary law, and are the Supreme Court, the Superior Court, the Court of 
Common Pleas, the New York Marine Court, Criminal Courts of Oyer and 
Terminer and of General Sessions. In addition there was established during the 
year 1874, by act of legislature, the Court of Arbitration of the Chamber of 
Commerce of the State of New York, the purpose of which is to provide for legal 
arbitration between all parties making voluntary submission. The cases are heard 
by the official arbitrator alone, or aided by two other arbitrators selected by the 
parties in dispute. The Police Courts were remodelled in 1873. They are now 
under the control of eleven police justices. In the year closing October 31st, 1874, 
the whole number of cases recorded at special sessions for trial was 5567, of which 
4869 were of males, 698 of females. Of these, 3205 were convicted, 869 acquitted, 
1366 cases dismissed, 121 transferred or pending. The total number of arrests by 
the Police Department in 1874 was 90,030, of which 71,260 were for intoxication and 
disorderly conduct; for crimes of violence, 7860; commitments to the city prisons, 



8o comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

51,466. Of these committed, 41,514 were of intemperate habits. The police fur 
nished 185,124 lodgings at its stations. The cost of the police system is about 
$4,000,000 a year. The Commissioners of Public Charities and Corrections have 
made no official report since 1871, but some details are to be found under another 

head. 

Education.— The public instruction of the city of New York is under the 
charge of a Board of Education, consisting of 21 Commissioners of Common 
Schools, which has charge of all the common schools and such corporate schools as 
share in the school money of the State. This board reported the whole number 
of schools within their jurisdiction December 31st, 1874, as 287, including 57 
grammar-schools for males, 45 for females, 11 for mixed sexes, 47 primary schools, 
and 64 primary departments ; there is 1 female normal school, 1 normal school for 
teachers, and 1 model training school in connection with the Normal College ; 
and there are 13 corporate schools. The public schools are held in 121 buildings, of 
which 67 are for grammar, 48 for primaries, and 6 for colored. The whole number 
of scholars taught in 1874 was 251,545, and the average attendance 117,239. The 
whole number of teachers employed 3215, of which over 3000 are females. The 
expense of teachers amounted to $2,433,418.08, and the total cost of the system 
$3,475,313.20. The amount of State school-tax paid by the city of New York 
in' 1874 was $1,381,445.86, and the total amount received from the State for the 
schools of the county, $554,191.99. The Normal College, the Normal School for 
teachers, and the Model School, gave instructions to 1996 persons. Of the 512 
attendants at the college sessions, 187 were graduated with diplomas. There is also 
an evening high-school, attended chiefly by adults, at which the highest branches of 
education are taught. In 1873, the Board of Education was authorized to establish 
a Nautical School, and in 1874 Congress authorized the Secretary of the Navy to 
furnish a suitable vessel. A vessel was designated, and the school is now in opera- 
tion. An act of compulsory education was passed in 1874, and Randall's Island 
set aside for the reception of delinquents between the ages of 8 and 14. The College 
of the City of New York, better known as the Free Academy, is a part of the gen- 
eral system of public instruction, an attendance of one year at some one of the public 
schools being a requisite to admission. It has been in successful operation for 
twenty nine years. The Roman Catholics have 20 select schools, averaging 1600 
pupils, and about 50 parochial schools, with over 20,000 pupils. Of Jewish education 
there are no returns made public. They chiefly avail themselves of public schools. 
The Hebrew Free School Association limits its instruction to the Hebrew lan- 
guage. There are two important literary colleges, both of which make annual 
reports and are subject to the visitation of the Regents of the University of the State 
of New York. The older, Columbia College, was established under the name of 
King's College by royal charter in the year 1754, and its privileges were confirmed 
by an act of the State, April 13th, 1787, and by subsequent acts of legislature. In the 
college proper there are 9 professorships and 2 tutorships; in the school of mines 
there are 8 professorships ; in the school of law, 4 professorships, including one of 
medical jurisprudence. The number of students, under-graduates, in the college in 
the year 1873, was 123 ; the number of graduates in the month of June, the same year, 
21 ; the number of graduates in the school of mines, 5 ; the number of graduates in the 
school of law (bachelors of law), 138. The charge of tuition in the college and school 
of law is $100 per annum ; in the school of mines, $200 per annum. The old site of 
King's College was on the beautiful square between Murray, Church, Barclay, and 
Chapel streets (the latter now known as West Broadway). This college, now known 






COMI.KY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OK NEW YORK. Si 

as Columbia, occupies an equally beautiful site at the corner of Forty-ninth street 
and Fourth avenue. The value of the grounds and buildings now occupied is 
estimated at $800,000, and the total value of its property at $4,582,000. Its revenues 
reach the sum of $303,000, and its expenditures $208,000. The second of the 
literary institutions is the University of the City of New York. It has four depart- 
ments — arts, sciences, medicine, and law. The first two named are directed by 14 
professors; the number of undergraduates in 1873 was 121 ; of graduates, 10. The 
third, of medicine, is directed by 14 professors; number of students, 217. The 
fourth, of law, by a president and four professors; number of students, 35. Instruc- 
tion is free in the departments of arts and science to all who pass the preliminary 
examinations, no charge being made beyond an incidental fee of $15 per annum. 
For the department of medicine the charge is $140; for that of law, $100. The 
revenue of the University was $36,646.57, and its expenditure $36,646.57. 
Besides these widely-known institutions there are — the College of St. Francis 
Xavier, number of professors, 10 ; number of students in 1873, 80 ; number of grad- 
uates, 21; value of buildings and adjuncts, $228,000 ; of other property, $172,000 ; 
revenue, $36,084 ; expenditure, $31,084 ; price of tuition, $60 per annum. Manhat- 
ten College: number of professorships, 10; number of students in 1873,80; in 
preparatory department, 467; in commercial department, 126; total, 673 ; no degrees 
given in the year named ; value of buildings and adjuncts, $233,300 ; other property, 
$112,000; revenue, $62,343.34; expenditures, $65,357.59; tuition, including board, 
$600 per annum. The Rutgers Female College: instructors, 12; number of 
students, undergraduates, in 1873,68; graduates, 8 ; no building owned; revenue, 
various sources, $17,824.45 ; expenditure, $19,376.14. In addition to these seminaries 
of general learning there are several medical colleges, first among which is the 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, medical department of Columbia College 
(already named above), number of professors, 19; number of students in 1873, 396 ; 
number of graduates, 99 ; value of building and grounds, $154,000; other property, 
$11,000; revenue, $12,142.50; expenditure, $15,366.59 ; price of tuition, $140. The 
Homoeopathic Medical College of the State of New York in the City of New York : 
students, 100; graduates in 1873, ^8. The New York Medical College and Hospital 
for Women, New York City: professorships, 12; number of students in 1873, 25; 
graduates, 9 ; value of building and adjuncts, $63,500 ; of other property, $17,500 ; 
revenue, $3375 ; expenditure, $5740; price of tuition, $70. The Eclectic Medical 
College, New York City: professorships, 8; number of students, 37; of graduates, 
21; value of property (no building), $15,000; revenue, $755; expenditure, $755; 
price of tuition, $100. The New York College of Dentistry: professorships, 10; 
number of students, 39; graduates, 10; revenue, $5677.99; expenditure, $6129.76 ; 
price of tuition, $100 per annum. New York Free Medical College for Women : 
professorships, 14; number of students, 43. Summary. — Instructors, 3365 ; number 
of students, 277,310; cost of instruction, $3,808,381. In addition to these institu- 
tions, incorporated by the State or making report to constituted authorities, there 
are numerous schools for the education of both sexes in the highest departments of 
knowledge, some of which are as extensive and well known as the colleges. Mr. 
Peter Cooper has also established an institution for the education of the working 
classes, which is under the charge of a board of trustees, and to this he has given a 
building valued at $500,000, and made other munificent donations. The instruction 
includes engineering, the arts of design, modelling. The tuition and lectures are 
free. 

There are twenty-three libraries of circulation and reference, several of 
11 



82 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

which have reading-rooms attached. The principal is the Astor Library, founded 
on a bequest of John Jacob Astor, organized under a board of trustees in 
1848, with a collection of 70,000 volumes, and made by the distinguished 
Dr. Joseph G. Cogswell, with a view to the providing of a reference library 
of works not otherwise of easy access. The original building, 65 feet front 
by 120 feet deep, is situated on Astor Place. William B. Astor, son of the 
founder, has since added a second building of similar size, and the number of vol- 
umes had increased to 150,306 on January 1st, 1875. The buildings are elegant and 
commodious. The books are free to the public, for use only in the library. _ The 
only other free library is the Lenox, incorporated January 21st, 1870, for which a 
large and beautiful building has been recently completed, covering the whole front 
of the block on Fifth avenue, between Seventieth and Seventy-first streets, and com- 
manding a fine view of Central Park. In it the large and valuable collection of 
the founder, James Lenox, whose munificent gift includes also the real estate and 
buildings, will be deposited. It is the largest and finest collection of books on early 
American history ever formed. There will also be a fine-art gallery and a collection 
of curiosities. The New York Historical Society occupies a fine building on the 
corner of Eleventh street and Second avenue, the capacity of which it has for some 
years outgrown. It has a collection of historical works, newspapers from 1704 to 
the present date, manuscripts, public and private documents of great value, and is 
the favorite receptacle for family papers of historical importance. The collection 
of books reaches 60,000 ; of newspapers bound 2319. It has also a large collection 
of American antiquities, the famous Abbot Egyptian collection, the Lenox Nineveh 
marbles, and one of the most extensive and finest art collections in the country. It 
is supported by a large membership of the leading citizens. The oldest library in 
the city is the New York Society Library, situated in University Place, between 
Twelfth and Thirteenth streets. It was organized in 1740, and incorporated in 
1754, has a collection of about 70,000 volumes for circulation and reference, and has 
a reading-room. It is maintained by annual dues. The Mercantile Library Asso- 
ciation, Clinton Hall, Astor Place, originally organized for the benefit of merchants' 
clerks, to whom access is given at a merely nominal charge, has a very large col- 
lection of current literature, 158,034 volumes, and a fine anq[ extensively-used read- 
ing-room, where both foreign and domestic reviews, magazines, and periodicals are 
amply supplied. The library is chiefly used for circulation. In addition, there is 
an admirable system of lectures and classes. The American Geographical Society 
has rooms in Cooper Institute. It has a good library of books on geography and a 
valuable collection of charts, maps, and other documents. It is the only institution 
in the country wholly devoted to geographical science. The Union Theological 
Seminary has a large and noted collection, chief among which are early American 
tracts. The Episcopal Theological Seminary has also a large collection. The 
American Institute is particularly strong in works on mechanics and engineering. 
The Apprentices' Library, free to this class and female employees, has a large 
assortment of general literature. The Law Institute has a carefully-selected library, 
and a reading-room attached for the use of the bar. The Chamber of Commerce 
has a small but extremely valuable collection of works on finance and subjects of 
commercial interest. There are several societies for the promotion of the fine arts. 
The National Academy of Design, instituted in 1826, owns a building on the corner 
of Twenty-third street and Fourth avenue, and has large and valuable collections. 
The Metropolitan Musuem of Art, incorporated in 1870, occupies an elegant 
building: on Fourteenth street between Sixth and Seventh avenues. It has a carefully 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 83 

selected and jhoice collection of antiquities and curiosities, some of great value, 
chief among which is the Cesnola collection. A building for the accommodation 
of this museum is now being erected in Central Park. A Studio Art-building As- 
sociation was organized in 1865, and is located on Tenth street, near Sixth avenue; 
it is mainly used by artists for studios. There are 444 newspapers and periodicals 
published in the city of New York. Of these 28 are daily, 8 semi-weekly, 187 
weekly, 22 semi-monthly, 180 monthly, 3 bi-monthly, and 16 quarterly; 32 are in 
foreign languages — 16 German, 9 Spanish, 3 French, 2 Scandinavian, 2 Swedish; 
99 have a circulation of over 5000 copies. The ten leading newspapers are the 
Daily News, one cent, with a daily circulation of 127,360 ; the Sun, two cents, daih 
circulation, 119,792, weekly, 73,533 ; the Herald, three cents, daily, 85,000, weekly, 
15,000; the Tribune, four cents, daily, 43,833, semi-weekly, 10,000, weekly, 48,000 , 
the Times, four cents, daily, 42,000, weekly, 30,000 ; the Staats-Zeitung (German), 
daily, 30,000, weekly, 15,000. Of the illustrated papers, Harper's Weekly has a cir- 
culation of 100,000 ; Frank Leslie's Illustrated News, weekly, 50,000 ; the Graphic, 
daily, 11,000. Of the literary papers two are devoted to stories and tales — the New 
York Ledger, with a circulation of 300,000, and the New York Weekly, with a circula- 
tion of 180,000. Of the religious papers, the Christian Union, weekly, has a circula- 
tion of 78,333 ; the Christian Advocate, 45,000; the Catholic Reviezv, 20,000 ; the Sun- 
day-School Journal, monthly, 75,000; the Methodist Episcopal Church Missionary Advo- 
cate, 100,000. Of the magazines, Harpers Monthly has 130,000; Scribners Monthly, 
48,000 ; St. Nicholas, a child's magazine, 40,000; the Galaxy, 18,000. 

Churches. — New York is largely provided with churches. The total number, 
together with mission organizations, is 470, of which 334 have edifices of their own, 
with accommodations for 350,000 persons, and valued at $28,800,000. Of the organi- 
zations, 92 are Protestant Episcopal, 70 Presbyterian, 58 Methodist Episcopal, 46 
Baptist, 40 Roman Catholic, and 27 Jewish. In the Protestant churches, chapels, 
etc., there are seats for 250,000 persons, but it is estimated that the average attend- 
ance does not exceed 150,000. Of the Protestant churches, 240 are regularly incor- 
porated, with an average membership of 300, giving a total of 72,000 communicants. 
There are in addition 140 Protestant missions, where religious instruction and 
service are regularly maintained. The latest census gives 365 Protestant Sabbath- 
schools, with 88,237 scholars on roll, and an average attendance of 56,187 ; and of 
Roman Catholics, Jews, etc., there are 59 Sabbath-schools, having 27,589 scholars on 
.roll, and an average attendance of 18,274. The total number of missionaries is 266, 
who make 800,000 visits a year, besides hundreds of tract visitors, poor visitors, and 
other humbler agents. 

There are 5 free reading-rooms for seamen and 15 for workingmen, and 10 
daily prayer-meetings. The churches most famous for their size, cost, and archi- 
tectural beauty, are Trinity, Grace, St. George's, the new Fifth avenue Presbyterian, 
the Reformed Collegiate, and the Jewish Synagogue ; a new cathedral is also being 
erected by the Roman Catholics, which will exceed in size and splendor any church 
in the city. It is of white marble, covers an entire block, and is in the Gothic 
order. 

Charities. — New York is famous for its munificent and cosmopolitan charities, 
both at home and abroad. It has never failed to respond to an appeal for aid, and 
the eyes of suffering nations and communities are first turned to her. Ireland in its 
famine, France in its floods and desolation, England in its manufacturing distress, 
even in time of war, found a ready response. And so has every American in its day 
of distress — witness Portland, Chicago, Boston, etc. The municipal charities of 



84 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

New York are intrusted to a board of management entitled the Commissioners of 
Public Charities and Corrections, who have charge of all the criminals, paupers, 
and public sick of the city. 

The prisons, hospitals, asylums, almshouses, nurseries, etc., numbering 27 insti- 
tutions (viz., the Almshouse, Hospital for Incurables, Asylum for the Blind, Bellevue 
Hospital, City Prison, Randall's Island Hospitals, Workhouse, Charity Hospital, 
Fever Hospital, Small Pox Hospital, Infants' Hospital, Inebriate Asylum, Asylum 
on Ward's Island, Lunatic Asylum, Epileptic and Paralytic Hospitals, Randall's 
Island Nursery, Free Labor and Intelligence Bureau, Industrial School, Hart's 
Island, and School Ship Mercury), received last year 153,271 subjects. The depart- 
ment for the outdoor poor gave relief to 22,782. Correct conclusions cannot, how- 
ever, be drawn from these figures, as the same persons appear more than once upon 
the register. The money expended in sustaining the board amounted to $1,541, - 
685.50. The immigrants are under the care of the Commissioners of Emigration ; 
of the 267,901 alien passengers landed in 1874 at the port of New York, 51,871 were 
relieved, forwarded, or provided with employment by the commission; 12,586 were 
cared for in the refuge and hospital on Ward's Island — an institution supporting an 
average of about 2000 persons. The total expenses of the commission were $466,- 
108.22. Besides these public there are numerous private institutions, endowed by 
the voluntary benefactions of the citizens, in some cases aided by State or municipal 
appropriations. The Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor expends 
about $50,000 annually, and relieves about 5000 families. Last year being a year of 
extraordinary suffering, aid was given to 24,091 families. The New York City 
Mission gave aid to 2500 families in 1874. The Howard Mission and the House of 
Industry disbursed large sums. The Prison Association, the Home for Female 
Prisoners, and the Midnight Mission are humane reformatories. There are 27 hos- 
pitals in the city, of which 15 have large and commodious buildings, the recent 
erections being admirably adapted to sanitary and curative puposes. The oldest of 
these institutions is the New York Hospital, founded under a colonial charter in 
1 77 1. The large and beautiful site which it occupied for nearly a century has been 
sold, and this favorite institution has lost its old prestige. The Bloomingdale 
Asylum for the Insane, located at One Hundred and Seventeenth street, between Tenth 
and Eleventh avenues, is a branch of the New York Hospital. A farm of 300 acres 
has been purchased at White Plains, and suitable buildings will shortly be ready for 
the reception of patients. St. Luke's Hospital occupies spacious buildings on the 
corner of Fifty-fourth street and Fifth avenue. 

The property of this institution was exempted from taxation and assessment by 
legislative act in 1870. Mt. Sinai Hospital, formerly known as the Jews' Hospi- 
tal, was established in 1852. It occupies a large building on Lexington Avenue 
from Sixty-sixth to Sixty-seventh street. The Roosevelt Hospital, a bequest of 
James H. Roosevelt, who died in 1863, has extensive buildings erecting on Ninth 
avenue, corner of Fifty-sixth street. There are, besides, the German Hospital, 
incorporated 1866 ; St. Francis's Hospital, 1866, under the charge of the Poor of St. 
Francis; St. Vincent's, 1849, under the Sisters of Charity; the Presbyterian Hos- 
pital, 1868 ; Women's Hospital for Surgical Treatment of Women, 1855 ; New York 
Asylum for Lying-in Women, 1822; New York Society for the Relief of Rup- 
tured and Crippled, 1863; New York Infirmary for Women and Children; New 
York Homoeopathic Infirmary for Women; the Hahnemann Hospital ; Hospital for 
Diseases of the Nervous System; Metropolitan Medical and Surgical Institute; 
Strangers' Hospital. There are four eye and ear infirmaries : the New York Eye 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 85 

and Ear Infirmary, founded 1820; in 1874 there were treated 10,486 patients, 
of whom 7464 were for diseases of the eye, 2439 °f the ear, 583 of the nose 
and throat. The expenses for the same year were $28,011.70. Manhattan Eye 
and Ear Hospital; New York Ophthalmic Hospital; New York Ophthalmic 
and Aural Institute. There are 7 city dispensaries, which supply gratuitously 
medicines and medical and surgical attendance, and are mainly supported by 
subscriptions and gifts from the legislature. Besides these, there are several 
supported by private contributions. The New York Dispensary, corner of Centre 
and White streets, established 1790, supplies an average of 40,000 patients at 
an expenditure of $10,000. The Central Dispensary, the Demilt, the Eastern, the 
Manhattanville, Northern, Northeastern, Northwestern, Western, Harlem, Hoffman, 
German, Orthopaedic, Dispensary for Diseases of the Skin, Bond Street, New York 
Homoeopathic Medical College, Metropolitan Homoeopathic, Northwestern Homoeo- 
pathic, Western Homoeopathic, Western Dispensary for Women and Children, 
Eclectic. There are two institutions for the deaf and dumb : the Institution for the 
Deaf and Dumb, incorporated in 181 7, occupies buildings 650 feet in length, cover- 
ing two acres, and acccommodating 450 pupils ; the Institution for the Improved 
Instruction of Deaf-Mutes. There are three institutions for the blind : the New 
York Institution for the Blind, which receives pay pupils and others at State charge 
for $300 per annum ; the Blind Mechanics' Association, which secures employment 
for blind adults; the Holy Light Home for the Blind, for the support of the aged 
and infirm, without regard to religion or nationality. There are 26 religious, edu- 
cational, and other Roman Catholic organizations, reformatory and charitable. Of 
benevolent societies there are 51, of trades' unions about 50, and of secret and benefit 
societies about the same number. Besides these, there are 75 other charitable insti- 
tutions. The Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, House of 
Refuge, Randall's Island, occupies two large structures 1000 feet in length, in the 
Italian order of architecture; the workshops 30 by ico feet, three stories high; con- 
nected therewith a school for seamanship. 

The New York Juvenile Asylum receives truant and friendless children ; accom- 
modates 500 inmates; the city pays $110 for each child supported. The Children's 
Aid Society seeks to secure homes for friendless children in country families ; schools 
are attached which educate from 9000 to 10,000 scholars annually. A newsboys 1 
lodging-house is connected with the society, which has provided over 70,000 boys 
with permanent homes and employment. The New York Catholic Protectory has 
extensive buildings in Westchester County. The Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan 
Asylum has a large building, and supports about 200 children annually. There is 
also an Industrial Home for Jewesses, and the Noah Benevolent Widows' and Or- 
phans' Association. The Colored Orphan Asylum, whose premises were destroyed 
during the riots in July, 1863, has since erected new buildings; the average number 
cared for is 260. The Five Points Mission provides food and clothing for the poor, 
and temporary shelter for the homeless ; its school attendance, over 400. There are 
several institutions for seamen — the American Seamen's Friend Society, the Sailors' 
Home, etc. ; and a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 

The foregoing include the best known of these numerous and valuable institu- 
tions, all of which draw largely from the private munificence of the charitable com- 
munity of New York. The organized local charitable societies and institutions re- 
ceive and disburse annually $2,500,000. 

Public Buildings.— The most noted buildings -are the City Hall, in the Park, 
erected in 1803, a graceful and elegant structure. Adjoining is the new Court-House, 



86 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

a large edifice, notorious as the means by which the city treasury was robbed of a 
large amount of money by William M. Tweed and his followers. They are both in 
marble, except the rear of the City Hall, which is brown stone, the authorities having 
then no idea that the city limits would extend any higher. The Custom-House, 
formerly the Merchants' Exchange, is an immense and massive structure of Ouincy 
granite. The columns are 38 feet in height and 4^ feet in diameter. The Sub- 
Treasurv occupies the old Custom-House, a beautiful and spacious building in white 
marble. The new Post-Office, the finest public structure in the city, and admira- 
bly adapted for its purpose, was begun in 1869 and finished in 1875. It occupies 
the southern angle of the Park. The Western Union Telegraph Company and the 
Evening J'ost occupy fine structures of brick, with stone trimmings, upon Broadway, 
below the Park. The New York Tribune Association has lately completed a brick 
building on Printing-house Square, with a tower of enormous height, which has 
attracted attention and comments. Of the new buildings in the upper part of the 
city, the Grand Central Depot, the Windsor Hotel, the Gilsey House, and the Buck- 
ingham are the most prominent. The Albany and the Saratoga are large structures 
of fiats on the French plan, now rapidly growing in favor. The Lenox Library has 
already been noticed. A marked feature of the social life of the city is the preva- 
lence of clubs, of which there are forty, including literary and sporting associations, 
for friendly intercourse. The most celebrated of these are the Union, limited to 
1000 members, with a full membership, and occupying an elegant building on Fifth 
avenue; the Union League, with a roll even more extensive, and a fine house in 
.Madison Square. The New York, Knickerbocker, Travellers', Century, Lotos, and 
the German Club on Reservoir Square. These institutions are provided with 
restaurants, and are daily and numerously attended. The city is admirably provided 
with parks, which have been aptly termed the " lungs" of the cities. The Central 
Park is noticed elsewhere. There are also the Battery, Bowling Green, the City 
Hall Park — all historical ground — Tompkins, Washington, Union, Madison, and 
Reservoir Squares, and, at the northern end of the island, Mount Morris Square and 
High Bridge and Morningside Parks. The total area in acres and thousandths is 
1007.251. The lower part of the city is quite irregularly built; but from Houston 
street, about a mile north of the City Hall Park, the construction is regular, with 
long avenues running to the northern end of the island, and laterally traversed by 
streets which, like the avenues, are designated by numbers. Broadway, the most 
famous of the avenues, is an exception to this rule, and in its long extent of six 
miles crosses five of the avenues in a north-westerly direction. Broadway is lined 
with shops and hotels, and is one of the gayest streets in the world. Fifth Avenue, 
with its magnificent private residences, churches, and club-houses, is one unbroken 
series of architectural display; the natural advantages of this fine avenue, which 
runs along the ridge of the island, make it the favorite site for residence. Broad 
and extensive boulevards have been recently laid out in the upper part of the island, 
which, connecting with the Central Park, offer long and agreeable drives. 

The first city railroad was chartered in 1852, since which the system of travel by 
horse-cars has largely increased. There are now railroads in all the longitudinal 
avenues except the Fifth avenue and Broadway below Union Square, and there are 
also numerous transversal lines connecting the ferries of the East and North rivers. 
The commissioners appointed by the Mayor of the city, under the authority of the 
legislature, have now under advisement plans for rapid transit to the northern lim- 
its, now become indispensable to the growth and prosperity of the metropolis. The 
New York Central, Hudson River, Harlem, and New Haven Railroads have their 



comley's history of the state of NEW YORK. 87 

terminus in this city at the Grand Central Depot, and bring in and take out a large 
number of suburban residents who have their place of business in the city. The 
report of the State engineer and surveyor for 1872 gives the business of the city 
horse-railroads as follows : horse-car passengers carried, 134,588,871, at fares varying 
from five to eight cents each ; steam elevated roads, 163,153, at a fare of ten cents. 
There are 23 ferries connecting New York with the west shores of the Hudson, Ho- 
boken, and Jersey City, Staten Island and Long Island. The boats to Brooklyn and 
Hoboken run every ten minutes by day, and every fifteen minutes by night ; fares, 
from two to four cents each passenger. The number of passengers carried in 1868, 
the last year of official returns, was 82,321,214. The ferries are all under city super- 
vision, but owing to the policy adopted a few years since of leasing this valuable 
franchise for terms of years, no returns supplying statistical information are now 
made. The natural increase would carry the number to 100,000,000 at the lowest 
estimate. Reviewing the car and ferry traffic, it will be seen that the centre of city 
travel of New York and its natural suburbs is not far removed from the City Hall 
Park. 

Water-works. — The city is supplied with water by the Croton Water-works, the 
most extensive and costly in the U. S. The supply is drawn from the Croton River, 
a clear, pure stream of remarkable quality, in Westchester County, which is conducted 
to the city by an aqueduct of solid masonry 40^ miles in length, 8 feet 5^ inches 
in height, 7 feet 5 inches wide at the widest point; and dropping 13 inches to the 
mile. It has a capacity of 106,000,000 gallons a day. It crosses the Harlem River 
on the High Bridge, a structure of granite 1450 feet long, 21 feet wide, between 
parapets 114 feet high; is received in two great basins in Central Park, and is dis- 
tributed by two reservoirs through 350 miles of pipe. These works are under the 
supervision of the department of public Avorks, a bureau created under the 
charter in 1870. Five principal gaslight companies supply the city. The Man- 
hattan Company has two works, which deliver gas through about 170 miles of street- 
mains to 30,000 private consumers and 7000 street-lamps. The others are the New 
York, Metropolitan, Mutual, and the Harlem. The mains of these companies are 
being constantly extended as new avenues and streets are opened. 

The system of sewerage is totally unworthy of a metropolitan city with unequalled 
opportunities for drainage, the rivers surrounding providing ample outlet for all 
detritus; but there has as yet been no effort to introduce the scientific plans of which 
Paris presents so excellent an example. The paving of the city is hardly better than 
the sewerage. For this, however, some excuse may be found in the severity of the 
winters and the long lay of snow upon the ground. Various tentative experiments 
have been made; cobblestones have given way to wood ; wood, in turn, after having 
been tried in various forms, has yielded to trap-block, which is now the favorite mode. 

Markets. — The market system is absolutely disgraceful, and with hardly any 
exception, the buildings are rather public nuisances than public benefits. Those 
owned and rented by the city are 13 in number, of which Washington, Fulton, and 
Clinton are the most important. With a more bountiful supply of provisions of 
necessity and luxury than can be had in any city of the world (a remark especially 
true of its fish, which has developed into a separate trade under the control of a fish- 
mongers' corporation), there is no capital city where the market accommodations 
for both produce and consumer are so badly managed. The sales of food during the 
year (1874) for cash are reported by the efficient superintendent, Colonel De Voe, at 
$130,000,000, of which Washington received $108,000,000 ; Fulton, $16,000,000 ; and 
Clinton, $1,500,000. Besides these for household purposes, it is estimated, by the 



88 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

same competent authority, that 1,350,000 persons dine or lunch every business-day in 
the city of New York. Not less than 300,000 of these are daily visitors, who leave 
the city nightly for neighboring towns, and there is an average of 50,000 visitors at 
the hotels. 

The Fire Department, formerly a volunteer organization, has at last passed 
into the control of a board of commissioners, with salaried employes. The 
modern system of steam, with engineers and officers, and telegraphic signals, has 
done away with this formerly prominent feature in the life of the metropolis. 

The Police Department is under the control of a board of commissioners, 
and occupies 34 different stations, which are connected by telegraph wires, and a 
large, commodious head-quarters. The force numbers 2503. As a system of protec- 
tion, it can never be thoroughly efficient until withdrawn from the domain of politics, 
but it is slowlv and steadily improving. Its main deficiency, as compared with the 
European system, is the want of efficiency in the detective force. 

Post-Office.— The business of the post-office is enormous. Besides the great 
building, there are 20 branch stations, of which 12 are on Manhattan Island, A to L, 
and 8 in the newly-annexed towns of Westchester. The number of superintendents 
and clerks employed at the general office is 648 ; at stations, 86 ; of regular letter- 
carriers at the general post-office, 100; at stations, 329; of substitutes, 30; total 
force, 1193. There are 7 daily deliveries by carriers, and 14 collections from 986 
street letter-boxes. In the year 1876, the transactions of the New York Post-Office 
are given below : 

TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW YORK POST-OFFICE, FOR THE YEAR 1S76. 

The following statement exhibits the transactions of the New York Post-Office 
for the year 1876. Compiled by direction of Hon. Thomas L. James, Postmaster: 

TRANSACTIONS OF MONEY ORDER DIVISION. 

International and Domestic Orders issued $1,062,826 13 

Fees on same 12,984 45 

International and Domestic Orders paid 6,068,014 74 

Deposits received from Postmasters on Money Order account 12,675,514 6S 

Drafts paid on Money Order letter credit's account 6,691,059 00 

Deposited to credit Postmaster General on Money Order account 400,000 00 

Postmaster's General checks 565,329 97 

International Exchange account 595. 320 19 

Transfer to Postage account 111,297 29 

Revenue account 254,032 68 

International Money Orders certified to and from Europe 3,007,999 61 

Money Orders issued and paid at Stations in New York City 1,953,712 40 

Expense account 58,052 16 

Funds advanced to Stations 100,035 00 



Total $33,556,178 30 

BRITISH MONEY ORDERS EXCHANGED. 

Inwards $397, 027 75 

Outwards 897,457 46 

$1,294,485 21 

GERMAN MONEY ORDERS EXCHANGED. 

Inwards $703,077 61 

Outwards 766,408 37 

$1,469,485 98 



COM LEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 89 

FOREIGN DEPARTMENT. 

Letters del i vered 

Letter and Paper Bags 26,884 

Letters received 

Letter and Paper Bags 22,883 

Suplementary Postage $14,386 00 

REGISTRY DEPARTMENT. 

Registered Packages opened 262,533 

" " in transit 105,807 

" Letters delivered 447,582 

" " received in Mails for distribution 239,652 

Letters registered 175,823 

Fees on same $17,442 40 

Postage Stamp Packages registered 150,823 

Stamped Envelope Packages distributed 25,048 

Postal Card Packages d istributed 8,492 

Registered Packages dispatched 161,603 

Total i,577,3f»3 

carriers' department. 

Registered Letters delivered by Carriers 248,444 

Mail Letters delivered by Carriers • 37-359,372 

Postal Cards " " 10,692,544 

Local Letters " " 21,036,945 

Local Postal Cards delivered by Carriers 6,445,877 

Newspapers delivered by Carriers 8,892,218 

Postal Cards collected by Carriers 6,671,795 

Local Letters " " 15,530,932 

Mail Letters " " 30,614,504 

Newspapers " " 5,584,362 

Postal Cards deposited in Stations ... 6,356, 149 

Local Letters " " 14,482,099 

Mail Letters " " 31,985,097 

Newspapers " " 15,150,761 

Letters registered at Stations 55-596 

Money Orders issued at Stations 46,460 

Amount received for the same $867,209 76 

Money Orders paid at Stations 50,712 

Amount paid for the same $702,839 55 

Amount of Envelopes, Stamps, etc., sold at Stations, $516,261 85 

Postage on Local matter $1,009,651 43 

AVERAGE QUANTITIES OF MAIL MATTER DISPOSED OF IN ONE DAY DURING THE YEAR 1 876. 

LETTER MAILS. Letters, 

Number. 

Drop Letters for other offices, @ \ oz 272,974 

Received in Mails 20,236 

Average weight of Pouch without contents, 7 lbs. 
Whole number of Pouches dispatched for 426 Post-Offices and 95 Routes 

PAPER MAILS. 

Average number of Sacks received for distribution, 1620, at average weight of 70 lbs. 

Weight of Sack without contents, 38 ozs. 
Whole number of Sacks dispatched for 322 Post-Offices and 133 Routes 

Number of Sacks of 2d class matter distributed 

Number of Sacks of 3d class matter distributed 

Total 293,210 

12 



go comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

FOREIGN MATTER. 
Received per Steamers. 

Average number of Letters 18,150 

Contained in Bags 

Average number of Bags of Paper Matter 

Total <8,I50 

Dispatched per Steamers. 

Average number of Letters ig> 26 4 

Contained in Bags 

Average number of Bags of Paper Matter •• 

Total x 9. 26 4 

LOCAL MATTER, LETTERS. 
Carrier Delivery, 

Mail Letters and Postal Cards I53.520 

Drop Letters 67 '° 21 

Total 220 -54i 

Lock- Box Delivery. 

Mail Letters 8 5-°73 

Drop Letters 4 2 ,^ 

Total I2 7-9 2 9 

RECAPITULATION. 

Domestic Matter 293,210 

Foreign Matter inward 1 0,150 

Totals of Matter dispatched over inland Routes 3 TI >3 DO 

Foreign Matter outward i9- 26 4 

Letters, Weight, 

Number. Pounds. 

Carriers' Delivery 220,541 6,892 

Lock-Box I27,9 2 9 3,996 

348,470 

Total 679,094 

Totals for the year 1876 254,473,840 

History. — Immediately after the discovery of Hudson in 1609, the Dutch under- 
took the occupation and settlement of Manhattan Island, and in 16 14 erected a 
fort and trading-house at the south-western extremity of the island, to which they 
gave the name of New Amsterdam. In 1614, an expedition from South Virginia, 
dispatched by Sir Thomas Dale, took possession of the infant colony, which then 
consisted of four houses outside the fort; but an amicable settlement was soon made 
between the respective governments, and the Dutch remained in possession of the 
Island and neighboring country. In 1652, the city of New Amsterdam was incor- 
porated. In 1656, it had increased to 1000 inhabitants and 120 houses; in 1677, it 
contained 368 houses. The city remained under the peaceful rule of the Dutch for 
about a half-century, when Charles II. coming to the English throne, the territory 
occupied by the Dutch was granted by royal charter to his brother, the Duke of 
York, March 12th, 1664, and an English fleet took unopposed possession in August of 
the same year. Colonels Nicoll and Lovelace ruled the settlement for ten years in the 
name of the duke, and the name of the city was changed in his honor, to New York. 



& 



COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 91 

In August, 1673, a Dutch fleet recaptured the city, which it held in the name of the 
States-General of Holland, and changed the name again to New Orange, in compliment 
to the Prince of Orange. It was again restored to English rule by treaty in 1674, 
and resumed its name. In 1686, the municipal rights of the free city were confirmed 
and enlarged to cover all vacant land on Manhattan Island to low-water mark, by 
charter from Gov. Dongan. In 1708, certain ancient rights of ferry were also con- 
firmed by new charter from Gov. Cornbury, but the charter upon the foundation of 
which, as Chancellor Kent remarks, the city of New York is at present governed, was 
that of 1730, as granted by Governor Montgomerie. This charter recites the former 
charters, confirms the privileges of the city, and defines the water-boundary as ex- 
tending to low-water mark on the opposite shores of Long Island and New Jersey. 
This claim of New York gave occasion to long litigation with the State of New 
Jersey, until the boundary-line was happily settled by commissioners mutually ap- 
pointed by the each State in 1833. This settlement leaves the exclusive jurisdiction 
of the waters to the State, and consequently to the city of New York, while the 
right to the land under water and the wharves which may be built thereon, on the 
Jersey shore, is vested in New Jersey, subject only to the quarantine and health 
laws of the city. An act of confirmation was passed by the assembly October 14th, 
1732. Under these royal charters the mayor, sheriff, recorder, and other officers 
were appointed by the governor of the colony. This mode of appointment contin- 
ued until the Revolution, when the power of appointment was, by the constitution of 
1777, vested in the governor and council until otherwise ordered by the legislature. 
Under the amended constitution of 1821, the mayor was directed to be appointed 
annually by the common council, and the other officers to be chosen triennially by 
the electors of the city. This mode continued until the act of March 3d, 1834, direct- 
ed that the mayor be annually chosen by the electors of the city. In 1849, impor- 
tant alterations were made in the creation of executive departments, the chief officers 
of which to be elected by the, people. The police department, however, was con- 
tinued, the mayor being designated as its head, but a bureau established under the 
control of a chief of police. In 1852, a further amendment instituted a board of 
60 councilmen, to be chosen from 60 districts of the city, in place of the board 
of assistant aldermen of the wards. In 1857, a further radical change was made. 
The act of this year repealed all the amendments of 1830, 1849, 1851, 1853, only 
continuing in force the ancient Dongan and Montgomerie charters. The amended 
charter divided the city into seventeen aldermanic districts, from each of which an 
alderman was to be chosen, to serve two years ; the board of council to be composed 
of six members elected annually from each of the senatorial districts of the city ; 
the mayor, comptroller, and counsel to the corporation to be elected by the people, 
the mayor for two, the counsel for three, the comptroller for four years, all three 
removable by the governor for cause; and the heads of departments were made 
removable by the board of aldermen without consent of the mayor. The powers 
of the street department were increased, and a number of executive departments 
abolished. This act, restricting the powers of the mayor, was resisted by him as 
unconstitutional, and popular disturbances ensued. The same legislature had placed 
the police force of the city and the neighboring counties under a metropolitan com- 
mission. The forces met in violent struggle; resort was finally had to the Court of 
Appeals, which fully sustained the constitutionality of the new charter. By an 
amendment passed in 1863, the term of office of the several heads of departments 
was extended to four years. The board of councilmen was abolished after 1869. 
On April 5th, 1870, further and thoroughly radical changes took place, the city gov- 



92 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

ernment being essentially withdrawn from any control of the State authorities, and 
the executive power vested in a mayor and eleven departments, the mayor to be 
elected for two years, heads of departments to be appointed by the mayor. The 
police was withdrawn from the metropolitan commission, and became one of 
the new departments. Earnest protest had been made against the passage of the 
charter of 1870, but few alterations were consented to, a few modifications only being 
made by the act of April 18th, 187 1, with regard to the school officers and Central 
Park commission. The abuses and reckless expenditure which followed this change 
in municipal rule became so enormous and flagrant that there was a great reaction 
in public opinion. The amendment again reorganizing the local government was 
passed June 13th, 1873, an d is now in force. It abolished the board of assistant alder- 
men, constituted a new common council of twenty-one aldermen, to be elected at the 
general State election the next year ; three members to be elected in each senatorial 
district ; six alderman at large, to hold office for one year ; and the mayor to be 
elected for two years. 

In reviewing these changes in the form of administration of the city government, 
it is interesting to notice the tentative process by which a solution has been diligently 
sought for the problem of a city government where a population is subject to such 
increase — a population at once uneducated and unaccustomed to self-government. 
And it is not too much to say that only with a constitution and manners as free 
and liberal as those which prevail in the State of New York, could the principle of 
universal suffrage have endured the severity of the strain. The most important 
events in the history of the city since the English occupation have been the usurpa- 
tion of the government by Leisler in 1689, and his trial and execution by Gov. 
Sloughter in 1691. The same year the laws of the Duke of York and provincial 
laws were framed. The first assembly met in the city April 9th. In 1696, the first 
Trinity Church was built. In 17 12, the negroes rose in insurrection, set fire to the 
city, and killed several persons; nineteen of the negroes were subsequently exe- 
cuted. (See First Negro Plot.) In 1725, Bradford established the New York Gazette. 
In 1729, a city library was founded ; in 1740 the New York Society Library was 
organized. In 1741, the famous delusion known as the "Negro Plot" occurred; 
the city was in the greatest consternation, and a large number of negroes were exe- 
cuted, and together with them a Catholic priest : when reason was asserted itself, no 
real grounds could be discovered for any alarm. In 1750, a theatre was established. 
In 1754, King's (now Columbia) College was chartered. In May, 1763, the Sandy 
Hook lighthouse was first lighted. In 1765, the famous Congress known as the 
Stamp Act Congress, met in the city; delegates were present, and grievances were 
adopted. The Sons of Liberty were organized, with affiliations throughout the 
colonies. The Stamp Act was burned, and an agreement not to import goods from 
Great Britain until the repeal of the obnoxious act signed by a large concourse of 
merchants. On the 1st of November, amid great excitement, the effigies of Gov. 
Colden and the devil holding the Stamp Act were burned on the Bowling Green. 
On the 5th, the excitement continuing, and the citizens threatening to storm the fort 
and seize the stamps, the paper was delivered by the governor to the mayor, John 
Cruger, and taken to the city hall for safe keeping. 

On May 20th, 1766, the news of the repeal of the act reached the city, and the 
assembly was petitioned to erect a statue to William Pitt. In 1768, the Chamber of 
Commerce was organized at the Queen's Head Tavern, kept by Bolton & Sigel — a 
building better known later as Frances' Tavern, and which is still standing at the 
corner of Pearl and Broad streets, and now called Washington's Headquarters, this 



comley's history of the state of NEW YORK. 93 

being the spot where he bade adieu to his officers at the close of the Revolution. 
On May 14th, 1770, a statue to William Pitt was erected in Wall street at the intersec- 
tion of William, then Smith street. On April 18th, 1774, the Nancy arrived with a 
cargo of tea; the vessel was not permitted to land her cargo, nor to make entry at 
the Custom-House. News reached the city of the closing of the port of Boston in 
May, 1774; a committee of correspondence was organized. The non-importation 
agreement was again proposed, but declined, and a " Congress of the Colonies" 
insisted upon bv the merchants. To their persistent adherence to this scheme the 
first Congress was mainly due. In the same month, strong resolutions of resistance 
were adopted by a great meeting on the Common, now the Park. The colonial 
assembly finally adjourned April 3d, 1775. Delegates were elected to the Continen- 
tal Congress, July 25th, same year. On August 22d, Congress having ordered the 
withdrawal of cannon to the interior, the Asia, man-of-war, fired upon the city. In 
January, 1776, a detachment of militia took possession of the city, and in the spring 
the American army followed. On the 8th of July, the Declaration of Independence 
was proclaimed, and read to the army. On the 26th of August, after the battle of 
Long Island, the city fell into the hands of the British. On the 21st of September, 
a destructive fire consumed an eighth of the city, destroying 492 houses. On 
November 25th, 1783, the British evacuated the city, and Gen. Washington entered 
at the head of the American army. In January, 1785, Congress removed from Phil- 
adelphia to New York, and met in the City Hall, corner of Wall and Nassau streets, 
now the site of the United States Sub-treasury. The Bank of New York was organ- 
ized this year, and a manumission society was established. On July 26th, 1788, the 
new Constitution of the United States was adopted by the legislature, and cele- 
brated by a grand procession. On April 30th, 1789, Gen. Washington was inaugu- 
rated President of the United States, on the gallery in front of the old City Hall, 
facing Broad street. On December 4th, the adoption of the new Federal Constitu- 
tion was ratified by an immense procession, in which all the professions and trades 
were represented. In 1792, the Tontine Coffee-House was built; June 1st, 1795, the 
Park Theatre was erected. In 1799, the Manhattan Company was chartered to 
supply the city with water ; the Bronx River was proposed as the source of supply, 
and was surveyed. In 1 801, the total valuation of the real and personal estate of 
the city and county was $2 1,964,037, and a tax laid of one mill on the dollar. In 1804, 
hackney coaches were first licensed. July nth, of this year, Alexander Hamilton 
fell in a duel with Aaron Burr. In 1805, the winter was one of intense severity. 
This year the New York Free School was incorporated, and also the Tammany 
Society or Columbian Order. In 1806, steam navigation was first successfully 
inaugurated on the Hudson River, by Robert Fulton. In 1807, the city was sur- 
veyed and laid out by a commission of the legislature, consisting of Gouverneur 
Morris, De Witt Clinton, and others. Their plan has been substantially adhered to, 
with the exception of the late new improvements. In June, 181 2, on the declaration 
of war against Great Britain, a large number of privateers left the city, and became 
the terror of British traders till the peace. This year the first steam-ferry was 
established to Jersey City. On August 31st, 1814, the scarcity of specie and the 
drain upon the banks brought about a suspension of specie payments, which lasted 
till July, 1817. On February 12th, 1815, the first news of the treaty of peace was 
received at New York with enthusiasm. In 1824, the House of Refuge for the 
Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents, was established, and a building erected by 
private subscription. This was the beginning of a new order of correction of the 
vices of the young. On August 15th, 1824, Gen. La Fayette arrived in the city, and 



94 COMLEV'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

was welcomed with great rejoicings as the guest of the city and nation. The quintal 
of ioo instead of 112 pounds was voluntarily adopted by the merchants as the new 
measure for purchase and sale after January 1st, 1825. Gas was first introduced 
in this year, and mains laid in Broadway. On October 26th, 1826, the sound of 
cannon, commencing at Buffalo, and repeated from point to point, announced the 
completion of the Erie Canal, and the final union of the lakes with the Atlantic — 
the presage of the coming power and wealth of the city as the great gateway be- 
tween the Western and Eastern hemispheres. On November nth, the arrival of the 
first canal-boat was the occasion of a grand aquatic and civic pageant, in which the 
"commingling of the waters" was typically illustrated by the pouring, by Gov. 
Clinton, the father of the canal, of a keg of fresh water of Lake Erie into the Atlan- 
tic Ocean at the Narrows. In 1832, the Asiatic cholera ravaged the city. Hardly 
had its effects been recovered from when the city was prostrated, December 16th, 
I 835, by a terrible and disastrous conflagration, which raged three days, and des- 
troyed more than 600 buildings, and property to the value of over $20,000,000. 
Close upon this calamity followed the commercial distress and financial panic of 
1836-37, which spread over the whole country, and swept countless prosperous firms 
out of existence. The banks suspended specie payments under authority of the 
legislature, and resumption was only effected with great difficulty in 1839. The 
Croton Aqueduct was completed in 1842, and the health and comfort of the city 
assured by the colossal and beneficent monument of the enterprise and foresight of 
the citizens. In the year 1844 began the enormous immigration — first from Ireland, 
in consequence of the famine, and, later, from other parts of the continent, conse- 
quent on political disturbance — a movement which, mainly passing through New 
York, has greatly added to her wealth and population. On July 19th, 1845, another 
disastrous fire destroyed several million dollars' worth of property. In 1849, a dis- 
turbance, known as the Astor Place Riot, springing from a quarrel between 
theatrical partisans, cost the lives of several citizens, and was only suppressed by 
the interference of the militia. In the month of December, 1851, Kossuth, the 
Hungarian patriot, received an enthusiastic public welcome. On July 14th, 1853, 
an exhibition of the industry of all nations was opened in a building of extreme 
beauty, of iron and glass, on Reservoir Square. The building was soon after 
destroyed by fire. On July 2d, 1855, the Central Park was selected by the commis- 
sioners appointed by the supreme court. {See Central Park.) In the summer of 

1857, a financial crisis swept over the commercial world of both hemispheres. The 
business of the city was prostrated, the banks suspended specie payments, all enter- 
prises were stopped, and the working classes thrown into a state of destitution, to 
which a severe winter soon added fresh terrors. Relief was provided by the muni- 
cipal authorities, by labor on public works, and distribution of food. In August, 

1858, the successful laying of the Atlantic cable was announced, and, on September 
1 st, was celebrated by a holiday and a grand public demonstration. 

During the display of fireworks, the City Hall was badly injured by a confla- 
gration. In i860, the city was visited by the Japanese embassy, which was enter- 
tained with great splendor by the municipal authorities. The Prince of Wales was 
officially received the same year with a military display and welcome, by an im- 
mense concourse of citizens. In the fall of this year, the secession of South Caro- 
lina arrested business. The winter of 1860-61 was one of unquiet and distress. The 
attack upon Fort Sumter, in April, 1861, aroused the spirit of the people, and was 
responded to by a spontaneous uprising of the loyal element, which resulted in a 
meeting upon Union Square, and a demonstration surpassing in magnitude and 



comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 95 

enthusiasm any public assemblage in this country. Its effects were instantly felt in 
every part of the Union. The work of organizing regiments was at once under- 
taken, the banks pledged enormous sums for the support of the government, and the 
whole city set itself to the stern repression of the Southern revolt. In 1861, the 
banks, which had already loaned $150,000,000 in coin to the government, suspended 
specie payments. On July 13th, 1863, the militia of the city having been sent to Penn- 
sylvania, and the United States authorities undertaking to enforce the draft, an insur- 
rection took place, no doubt instigated by agents of the Southern rebels, which turned 
almost immediately into a furious attack upon the negro population of the city. 
The elements of disorder and crime common to large cities were combined in this 
movement. For a few days there was universal consternation. The courageous 
action of the police, supported by the United States troops, soon restored order. 
During each year of the war, repeated large outdoor manifestations were made in 
support of the government, of which those in Union Square, July 15th, 1862, and 
April nth, 1863, were the most conspicuous. In 1865, upon the news of the capture 
of Lee, and the overthrow of the rebellion, great preparations were undertaken lor 
the celebration of peace ; but the assassination of the President turned the univer- 
sal joy into mourning. The body was brought to the city on its way to the West, 
and lay in state in the City Hall, where it was visited by a continuous stream of 
mourning citizens. On the 25th of April, the remains were escorted to the Hudson 
River depot, by an enormous and imposing procession, through streets densely 
lined with sorrowing spectators. Such a spectacle had never been seen in New 
York. During the war, the city furnished 116,382 troops to the government. On 
July 1 2th, 1 87 1, the Orangemen, an association of Protestant Irishmen, undertaking to 
celebrate the " battle of the Boyne," were attacked by the opposite party, the Ribbon- 
men, a Roman Catholic association, and a riot ensued, which was only put down by 
the use of military force. This disgraceful occurrence ended in the loss of nu- 
merous lives. In 1872, the citizens combined against the public plunderers who 
had for years controlled the city government ; a committee of seventy was ap- 
pointed, and the leaders of the " Ring " brought to justice. In 1873, the business of 
the city was again paralyzed by a panic of unusual length and severity. Great cor- 
porations closed their doors, and went into bankruptcy. So universal was the want 
of confidence that the Stock Exchange, for the first time in its history, suspended all 
transactions. The effects of this panic are still evident, and the present depression 
of business may be rather considered as its continuation than its result ; nor can any 
improvement be looked for until the currency of the country be arranged on a per- 
manent and stable basis. 

An Historical Summary of the several Attacks that have been made upon 
the City of New York, and of the Measures that have been adopted for 
its Defence from 1613 until 1812. By Samuel L. Mitchell, M.D., LL.D. 

1st. — Capture of Hew York by Captain Argal in 16 13. 

We have been informed that Verrazano discovered New York about the year 
1524. Hudson visited it in 1609 ; and the Dutch sent vessels in 1 610 to open trade 
with the natives. 

In 1613, we have the first instance of invasion by an army force. Argal, the 
Governor of Virginia, after having destroyed the French settlements in Acadia, 
attacked the Dutch at New York, on his way homeward. Hedrick Christiaensen, the 
Dutch governor, submitted himself and his people to the governor of Virginia, and, 
through him, to the king of England. 



96 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

2d. — Restoration of the Dutch authority in 16 14, and continuance of it until 1664, when the 
English took it. 

o 

In 1614, Elkens, a new governor, came out from Amsterdam with a reinforce- 
ment. He threw off all dependence on the English and bade them defiance. He 
built the fort at the south-western extremity of the island, where the Custom-House 
and parade-grounds are now. The States-General of Holland made a grant of it 
under the title of New Netherland ; under this possession it was long held and 
known. 

No important occurrence took place until the reign of Charles II., King of 
England. In 1664, this sovereign, disregarding the rights, claims, and settlements of 
the Dutch, granted all New Netherland to his brother James, Duke of York and 
Albany. This grantee was afterward the noted James II. of England, who was 
declared to have abdicated the throne ; who was thereafter hospitably received by 
Louis XIV., and whose successor was William III., the Dutch stadtholder. The 
patent was dated the 12th of March, pursuant to which Colonel Richard Nichols and 
his associates proceeded with four frigates and three hundred soldiers directly to 
Manhattan, for the conquest of the Dutch. On the 27th of August, in that year, the 
city of New Amsterdam capitulated to the English; and on the 24th of September, 
Fort Orange (Albany) made a similar submission. In commemoration of the titles 
of their ancient lord, the former has since been called New York and the latter 
Albany. The same year the duke conveyed New Jersey to Berkeley, Carteret, and 
their associates. 

2,d. — Extinction of the English power and restoration of the Dutcli in 1673. 

In 1665, a code of laws was compiled called the Duke's laws. They were trans- 
mitted to England, and confirmed by the duke in 1666. 

In 1667, the Treaty of Breda was ratified. By this, New Netherland was con- 
firmed to the English ; and as an equivalent therefor, Surinam was ceded to the 
Dutch. This year Nichols retired and was succeeded by Lovelace, whose most 
remarkable act was the purchase of Staten Island from the natives. In 1673, a Dutch 
war having broken out, a small squadron under the command of Benckes and Evert- 
sen, after having committed ravages in Virginia for the annoyance of the English 
commerce, came to New York for the purpose of regaining some of their lost pos- 
sessions. On the 13th of July, the Dutch ships moored under the fort, landing their 
men, and entered the garrison without giving or receiving a shot. The city and all 
New Netherland immediately assented to the same humble concession. 

\th. — Restoration of the English authority in 1674, and the continuance of it until the abdication 

of King James II. in 1688. 

In 1674, peace was made between England and the States-General of Holland, 
by the Treaty of Westminster. In the sixth article of this instrument, New Nether- 
land was restored to the English, and the English territories in Guiana to the Dutcli. 
On this occasion the Duke of York confirmed his title by a new patent, and 
appointed Major Andros to be his governor. To his authority the Dutch submitted 
as far westward as Delaware River. 

In 1682, the Duke of York released to William Penn his rights west of the Del- 
aware, and especially his territories since called " the three lower counties on the 
Delaware," now the State of Delaware. 

In 1683, the first legislative assembly was held under Governor Dongan, who, 
on his arrival, issued a proclamation to the sheriffs for choosing representatives to 
meet him on the 17th of December in that year. 



comley's history of the state of NEW YORK. 97 

In 1685, the Duke of York succeeded his brother, Charles II., as King of England. 
He was the last male of the Stuarts who reigned, and was called James II. of Eng- 
land. By this event the proprietary government was changed to a royal govern- 
ment. Dongan was restored to the administration of affairs in New York in 1686. 
New York, among the other colonies, though favored with charters of incorporation 
for its two principal cities, experienced the effects of that prince's arbitrary rule by 
being deprived of legislative assemblies, the printing-press, and by being annexed, 
with the Jerseys, to the jurisdiction of the four New England colonies, under Gov. 
Andros, as captain-general and admiral of the whole, in 1688. In the month of 
December of that year, James abdicated, and went to France; and his daughter, 
Mary, and William, Prince of Orange, succeeded him in February, 1689. At 
this time Jacob Leisler seized the fort at New York, took command of the gar- 
rison, and ruled New York by a committee of safety, until William and Mary were 
proclaimed there. 

5///. — Proceedings relative to Fortifications at New York, from i/ie Protestant Revolution, in 

1088. to tie Treaty of Utrecht, in 17 13. 

William was entering upon the great continental war in Europe when he died, 
in 1 701. 

The first governor he appointed for New York was Henry Sloughter, who 
reached his government (3 W. & M.), and called the assembly together, in April, 
1 69 1. The war into which William was plunging the nation was continued with 
great vigor under his successor, Queen Anne. 

Sloughter, in his speech of the 17th August, 1692, mentions to the assembly, 
that " the fortifications are out of repair." He was succeeded by Benjamin 
Fletcher, who, in his speech to the legislature on the 12th September, 1693, recom- 
mends that "a fort be built in this city." The Earl of Bellemont took the adminis- 
tration (10 W. & M.) in 1698. On meeting the legislature, on the 19th of May, 
he uses these words : " I cannot but observe to you what a legacy my predecessor 
ha ; left me, and what difficulties to struggle with : a few miserable naked, half- 
starved soldiers, not half the number the king allowed pay for; the fortifications, and 
even the governor's house, very much out of repair, and, in a word, the whole gov- 
ernment out of frame. It hath been represented to the government in England 
that this province hath been a noted receptacle of pirates, and the trade of it under 
no restrictions," etc. The governor died toward the end of 1700. Colonel Smith, 
senior councillor, administered the government until the arrival of John Nanfan 
(13 W.), in 1701. Lieutenant-Governor Nanfan, on meeting the legislature on the 
22d of April, 1702 (1 Anne), recommended, among other things, "that the payments 
of the soldiers be more certain, and fortifications put in a good posture of defence." 
This same year Governor Cornbury recommended, in his speech of the 20th of 
October, " to provide for the defence of the city and port of New York, which seemed 
to him to be very much exposed, and, likewise, for the defence of the frontiers," etc. 
This was the year the session was held at Jamaica, in Queens County, on account of 
the yellow fever. The great warfare concerning the succession of a grandson of 
Louis XIV. to the crown of Spain was carried on. England, Holland, and their 
allies, were leagued against France. The British Colonies in North America trem- 
bled lest a French navy should assail them on the oceanic side. An attack from the 
French was also dreaded from the Canadian frontier, and from the savages in their 
alliance. 

Under these impressions, excited by the formidable conflicts of Marlborough 

13 



98 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

and Villars, Governor Cornbury, in his speech of the 13th of April, 1703, employs 
these words: "Gentlemen, I must acquaint you that since your adjournment, I 
have received information that the French intend to attack this place, by sea, this 
summer. I think the best way to prevent their design will be to erect two batteries 
of guns at the Narrows, one on each side, which I believe is the only way to make 
this port safe." 

In his speech of the 29th of May, 1706, Governor Cornbury says: "The 
repeated advices our merchants here have received from their correspondents in the 
West Indies, of the design the French have of attempting this colony, has made me 
think it of absolute necessity to call you together at this time, that all proper 
measures may be taken for the defence of this place, which, as yet, lies very open, 
naked, and defenceless. There are two things, therefore, which I shall chiefly 
recommend to your care; one is the providing a fund for the fortifying of this 
city; the other is the providing a fund for the repairing of her Majesty's fort, 
which is extremely out of order, and for mounting the guns, most of the carriages 
being rotten and unserviceable. These two things are of absolute necessity, and 
without which, it is to be feared, this place will become a prey to a powerful enemy, 
who can design no less than to lay waste and destroy it, as they have done the 
Islands of Nevis and St. Christopher, etc. Gentlemen, I must take notice to you 
that the last assembly did pass an act for the raising of ^1500 towards erecting 
batteries at the Narrows, which would have been of very great use at this time, had 
the money been collected, but it has not. I am sensible that some malicious, ill- 
minded people have reported that I had taken that money into my hands. That 
truth hereof may be known and I justified, I recommend to you to make strict 
inquiry into that tax." 

The same Governor in his speech of the 27th of September, 1706, observes : " I 
must again recommend to you the providing a fund for repairing and maintain- 
ing her Majesty's fort in this city, which yet wants several things to put it in a 
posture to resist an enemy, if we should be attacked, which we very narrowly es- 
caped this summer. Whether you will not think fit to fortify the Narrows, to 
prevent any attempt of like nature for the future, I leave to your consideration ; 
but in my judgment, I look upon that to be the best way to cover this city from any 
attempt the French may intend to make upon us: and I choose to mention it to 
you at this time, the rather because Captain Reid Knap, whom the Queen has been 
pleased to appoint to be her engineer in these parts, is now here, and will, if you 
desire it, give you an account of what he thinks proper to be done to answer that 
end." 

After all these urgent calls on the part of the executive, the legislature, which 
seems to have been uniformly hard to move, passed an act for raising ^"3000 
toward defraying the expense of fortifying the city of New York, on the 21st of 
October, 1706. 

In his speech of the 7th of April, 1709, Governor Cornbury again says: "I 
must in particular desire you to provide for the necessary repairs of the fortifica- 
tions of the province." 

Governor Robert Hunter, in his speech of the first of May, 1712, remarks that 
these letters from the Governor of Bermuda, as well as other good advices which I 
have received, will convince you of the necessity I lie under of calling for one more 
of the independent companies from Albany for the security of this place (New 
York), not being very sure what parts this storm is to break. 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 99 

From all which it appears that it was the fashion a century ago to express 
great apprehension, to form grand objects, and to do very little. 

6///. — The series of events relative to fortifying New York, from the death of Queen Anne, in 
1 7 14, to the arrival of Lord Loudoun with a fleet in 1 756. 

In his speech of the 5th June, 17 16 (2 George I.), Governor Hunter observes, 
"that the vast preparations of France, etc., justify my apprehensions, and I hope 
will be sufficient to induce you to put yourselves in a better state of defence against 
the evil day to come. The strength of this fort is very little proportioned to its 
use, which I take to be not only the security of this province, but in a great measure 
that of the continent." 

Afterward, Governor Burnet (10 Geo. I.), in his speech of the 15th of May, 
1724, addressed the assembly thus : "When you are informed of the ruinous con- 
dition of the buildings of this fort (which is the only strength of this town and 
harbor), you will agree with me, that an immediate and sufficient provision to repair 
it is the most frugal method to go about so necessary a work ; what you have formerly 
provided, has been fully employed by me for that service; and I will order an 
estimate of the extraordinary repairs now wanting, to be laid before you." 

In a message to the assembly, of the 4th of November, 1725, in his speech at 
the opening of the session on the 6th of April, 1726, Governor Burnet urges the 
importance of making repairs to the fort and buildings. This he repeats in his 
speeches of the 27th of September, 1726, and the 13th of September, 1727. 

A thorough repair of the barracks in the fort is earnestly requested by Gover- 
nor Crosby in his speech of the 16th of October, 1733 (6 Geo. II.). In his speech 
of the 25th of April, 1734, Governor Crosby recommends to the assembly, "the 
safety and protection of the harbor of New York, and of the frontiers, no time 
being so fit to guard against our future enemies as a time of peace, the duration of 
the present peace being uncertain. I therefore earnestly recommend to you to make 
use of the present time and to give a sufficient sum for the erecting of a battery at 
the point of rocks by Whitehall, and of new forts at Albany and Schenectady. I 
will cause to be drawn such plans for these purposes as I think will best answer 
the end, and make an estimate of the expense." 

On the 2 1 st of November, 1736, an order of corporation of the city of New 
York was made out under the signature of Robert Curting, then mayor, giving the 
assembly their consent to the insertion of a clause in a bill now under commit- 
ment, for erecting a battery on Copsee Rocks, saving to the corporation the un- 
doubted right they have to the soil, to high-water mark, to low-water mark, from 
Whitehall to Elds corner. 

In the speech of the 14th of October, 1736, Governor Crosby again urges atten- 
tion to the fortifications, and reiterates it in the speech of the 5th of April, 1737. 

Governor Clark, in his speech of the 5th of September, 1738, recommends for- 
tifications and measures of defence. In his speech of the 15th of April, 1741, he 
addresses the legislature in these terms (14 Geo. II.): "There is great cause to 
apprehend a speedy rupture with France : your situation ought, therefore, to 
awaken you to a timely provision against that event in fortifying this town in a better 
manner than it is at present, by erecting batteries, in proper places, upon some of 
the wharves facing the harbor, others upon the side of the Hudson River, adjoining 
the town, and one at Red Hook, upon Long Island, to prevent the enemy land- 
ing upon Nutten Island." Then follows a list of ordnance and stores for New 
York, prepared in consequence of an order of Lords for Plantations, etc. 

L.UI v, 



ioo comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

Governor Clinton, in his speech of the 17th of April, 1744 (17 Geo. II.), 
expresses apprehensions of a French war, and calls attention to fortifying the city. 
The battery on Copsee Rocks appears to have been a very popular subject, and to 
have excited great interest at that time. In Lott's Journal of Assembly, II. 25, is a 
long enumeration of what Governor Clinton judged expedient to be done for the 
security of New York, Albany, Oswego, and Ticonderoga. On the 31st, he assured 
them, by a special message, that it was absolutely necessary there should be a battery 
of six guns at Red Hook, on Nassau Island, which would effectually prevent the 
enemy's lying there to bombard the city, or their landing any force or artillery on 
Nutte'n Island. In case of any such attack upon us, this battery might be easily 
supplied and maintained by force of the country. It would likewise be proper to 
raise another battery on the front of the Great Dock of this city, in order to flank 
the east side of Copsee Battery as the Flat Rock Battery does the westward. 

In the speech of June 25th, 1745, the same governor observes, that " in order to 
put the province into a proper posture of defence, it is necessary that such other 
fortifications be erected about this city, with all possible dispatch, as may be suffi- 
cient to enable us to repel any force that may attack us on this quarter. For this 
purpose a strong battery of twenty guns, at the east end of the town, in the harbor, 
and some other batteries in other parts of the city, should be forthwith erected ; of 
which I will direct plans to be laid before you. It is worth considering whether, as 
matters are now circumstanced, this city may not have a considerable share of the 
war." 

In his speech of the 24th of October, 1752, fortifications are seriously recom- 
mended once more. By reason of the prevalence of the small-pox in the city of 
New York, in 1753, the legislature met at Jamaica, on the 13th of May, and received 
in Governor Clinton's speech another hint upon fortifications. 

In a message from Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey, of the 31st of October, 1753, 
more money is asked for Copsee Battery. And in his speech of 9th April, 1754, he 
observes, that Copsee Battery in this city is in a ruinous condition ; and I am 
persuaded you will think it absolutely necessary to put it into good repair. In 
his speech of 20th August, 1754, Governor De Lancey tells the council and 
assembly, that schemes have been formed to attack Albany and New York at the 
same time ; the former by a land force from Canada, and the latter by naval arma- 
ment. Let me therefore earnestly solicit you to provide in time for your security. 
In the speech of 28th November, he complains heavily "of the ruinous condition of 
the fortifications, and of the necessity of repairing them, and erecting others." In 
the speech of 4th February, 1755 (28 Geo. II.), the fortifications of New York are 
again recommended to be repaired, altered, or other works made. 

In 1756, Lord Loudoun came to New York with a large fleet, and quieted all 
apprehensions. We find but little more on the subject of fortifications in the metro- 
polis, during the continuance of the Canadian war, which terminated in 1759. 

>jth. — A summary of the proceedings from the arrival of the friendly British fleet, in 1756, to the 
extinction of the royal authority, by the meeting of the Continental Congress, on the $lh of 
September, 1774. 

The presence of this fleet and the success of provincial and British arms on the 
side of Canada, Illinois, and Louisiana, rendered the people easy as to their situ- 
ation ; nor did Governor Hardy, whose administration terminated in 1757 (31 Geo. 
II.), nor Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey, during his second administration, which 
lasted till 1760, nor Golden, who ruled until 1764, trouble the legislature much 



COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. IOT 

about fortification. And the like stillness on that subject seems to creep through 
the administration of Governor Moore and of his successors, Dunmore and Tryon, 
up to the time of the Revolution, which may be dated from the 5th of September, 
1774, when the Continental Congress first assembled at Philadelphia. 

After the dangers from the French and Indians were past, difficulties arose 
between the colonies and the mother country, in which New York fully partici- 
pated. As a civil war began, the next efforts of the colonists were to fortify, not 
against their old enemies, but against their late friends and fellow-subjects; and 
this new posture of affairs rendered it necessary to take additional precautions for 
defence and security. 

Zth. — The means used to defend New York, from the commencement of the Revolutionary 
War, to its termination by the peace signed at Paris, in 1 783. 

As early as May, 1775, the Continental Congress was consulted by the city and 
county of New York, through their delegates, how they ought to conduct them- 
selves with regard to British troops expected there. Congress took the matter 
under consideration, and recommended, among other things, for the present, a defen- 
sive conduct as long as that should be consistent with their safety ; but if they 
invade private property or commit hostilities, to repel force by force. They advised 
the removal of warlike stores from the city, and procuring of places of retreat for 
women and children, and the keeping in constant readiness a force for repelling 
insult and injury. 

On the 26th of that month, Congress exhorted the Provincial Convention of 
New York to proceed the more vigorously in preparing for their defence, inas- 
much as it was very uncertain whether the differences could be accommodated; and 
that the militia be in readiness to act at a moment's warning. 

George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, accepted the appointment of 
general and commander-in-chief of the American armies, on the 16th of June, 
1775. On the 6th of October, Congress decreed that the Provincial Convention of 
New York be directed immediately to render Hudson River defensible; that in 
doing this, they be particularly attentive to form such works as may be finished 
before the winter sets in ; and that the Convention be directed to inquire whether 
there are not some other places where small batteries might be erected, so as to 
annoy the enemy on their passage, particularly a few heavy cannon at, or near 
Moorehouse, and at a point on the shore a little above Verplanck's Point. 

On the 5th of January, 1776, Congress passed this Resolution : That having 
conferred with the gentlemen sent by the Convention of New York, and resumed 
the consideration of the report on the state of that colony, they decreed that no 
further fortifications be erected on Martless Rock on Hudson's River, and that 
a point of land on Puplopenskill on the said river, be without delay effectually 
fortified. 

Congress, on the 9th of January, passed a resolve in these memorable words : 
" That it recommended to the Committee of Safety of the Province of New York to 
appoint proper persons to inquire into the propriety and practicability of obstruct- 
ing or lessening the depth of water in the Narrows, or in any other place at the 
entrance of New York, or of any way of fortifying that pass, so as to prevent the 
entrance of the enemy;" and also to inquire whether the depth of water in Hudson's 
River, below the Battery, may not easily be lessened so as to prevent large ships 
• passing up, and to make an estimate of the expense, and report their proceedings in 
the premises immediately to Congress. 



102 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

On the 26th of the same month, a committee of three members of Congress, 
consisting of Messrs. Harrison, Va. ; Lynch, S. C. ; and Allen, Pa., was appointed 
to repair directly to New York to consult and advise with the Council of Safety of 
that colony, and with General Lee, respecting the immediate defence of the city of 
New York; and that General Lee be allowed to follow the determination of the 
said committee thereon. And the said committee was further instructed to consult 
with General Lee and the Committee of Safety about the fortifications on Hudson's 
River, and about fortifying the pass at Hell Gate. In case the city cannot be 
defended, the inhabitants are recommended immediately to remove their most valu- 
able effects to a place of safety. 

Eight thousand men were voted for the defence of New York on the 14th of 
March, 1776; and on the 15th, the Governors of Connecticut and New Jersey were 
requested to hold their militia in readiness for that service, to be paid, when on duty, 
as continental troops; and on the 9th of April, two hundred thousand dollars were 
ordered to be sent to New York, for the continental troops there. 

Congress, on the 16th of May, 1776, directed their President to write to General 
Washington, requesting him to repair to Philadelphia, so soon as he conveniently 
could, in order to consult with Congress upon such measures as may be necessary 
for carrying on the ensuing campaign. 

In consequence of a conference held with Generals Washington, Gates, and 
Mifflin, Congress, on the 13th of May, authorized the commander-in-chief to direct 
the building of as many fire-rafts, row-galleys, armed boats, and floating batteries 
as may be necessary and suitable for the immediate defence of the port of New York 
and Hudson's River. 

On the 23d of July, Congress informed General Washington that they had such 
entire confidence in his judgment that they gave him no particular directions about 
the disposition of the troops, but desired he would dispose of those at New York, 
the Flying-Camp, and Ticonderoga as to him shall seem most conducive to the 
public good. 

The Convention of New York having represented, on the 20th of August, that 
for want of blacksmiths they were greatly delayed in obstructing the passage of 
Hudson's River in the Highlands, which is an object of great importance, Congress 
ordered that the Convention of New York be empowered to employ for the purpose 
aforesaid the blacksmiths that are now engaged in building the continental frigates 
at Poughkeepsie. 

General Washington's letter of the 31st of August reached Congress on the 2d 
of September, inclosing the determination of a council of war, and the reasons for 
quitting Long Island. In consequence of that decision, the city, with all its fortifi- 
cations and appurtenances, was given up to the British fleet and army, under Ad- 
miral and General Howe. They fortified it and its environs strongly, to secure 
themselves against the American forces. 

On the 20th of September, 1776, Congress appointed a committee of its own 
body, consisting of Mr. Sherman (Ct.), Mr. Gerry (Mass.), and Mr. Lewis (N. Y.), 
to repair to headquarters, and inquire into the state of the army, and the best means 
of supplying their wants. During this season, the commander-in-chief was zeal- 
ously employed in providing the means of safety to New York.' Between April and 
August, he undertook various tours and expeditions to accomplish this object. The 
historian records with pleasure the exertions of Washington for the security of New 
York. I lis biographers ought to give him credit for the pains he took to guard so 
important a station from an invading enemy. The public will peruse, with interest, 



comley's history of the state of new york. 103 

the following extract from his own book accounts and vouchers, now to be seen in 
the office of the Register of the Treasury. 

These official papers are among the most memorable that exist. After the gen- 
eral had resigned his commission, he made a statement of his accounts with his own 
pen, and presented himself with them in his hands at the Treasury. There he con- 
tinued personally to attend until they were passed. In this honorable manner he 
underwent the ordeal of fiscal examination. This remarkable collection of docu- 
ments exists in the Treasury, as an example to all public agents, of the correctness 
and fidelity of George Washington. They are contained in a box by themselves, 
and are marked on the outside by a suitable inscription. 

The extract from a book in his proper handwriting was copied in the course of 
these inquiries concerning the general defence : 

1776. 
April 25th. To the expenses of myself and party reconnoitring the several 

landing places, etc., on Staten Island £16 10 o 

May nth. To expenses of a tour, and reconnoitring Long Island 26 8 6 

June 26th. To expenses in reconnoitring the channel and landings on 

both sides the North River, as high as Tarrytovvn, to fix 

the defences thereof 10 18 o 

To reconnoitre of the East River and along the Sound as far 

as Mamaroneck 16 94 

July 15th. To my own and party's expenses laying out Fort Lee on the 

Jersey side of the North River 8150 

July 23d. To the expenses of reconnoitring the country as far as Perth 

Amboy 19 10 o 

Oct. 29th, 1748. At night we took up our lodgings at Elizabeth-town Point, an 
inn about two English miles distant from the town, and the last house on this road 
belonging to New Jersey. The man who had taken the lease of it, together with 
that of the ferry near it, told us that he paid a hundred and ten pounds of Pennsyl- 
vania currency to the owner. 

Oct. 30th. We were ready to proceed on our journey at sunrise. Near the inn 
where we had passed the night, we were to cross a river, and we were brought over, 
together with our horses, in a w r retched, half-rotten ferry ; this river came a con- 
siderable way out of the country, and small vessels could easily sail up it. This was 
an advantage to the inhabitants of the neighboring country, giving them an oppor- 
tunity of sending their goods to New York with great ease; and they even made use 
of it for trading to the West Indies. The country was low on both sides of the river, 
and consisted of meadows. But there was no other hay to be got than such as com- 
monly grows in swampy ground ; for as the tide comes up in this river, these low 
plains were sometimes overflowed when the water was high. The people hereabouts 
are said to be troubled in summer with immense swarms of gnats or mosquitoes, 
which sting them and their cattle. This w r as ascribed to the low swampy meadows, 
on which these insects deposit their eggs, which are afterwards hatched by the heat. 

As soon as we were over the river, we were upon Staten Island, which is quite 
surrounded with salt water. This is the beginning of the province of New York. 
Most of the people settled here were Dutchmen, or such as came hither whilst the 
Dutch were yet in possession of the place. But at present they were scattered among 
the English and other European inhabitants, and spoke English for the greatest part. 
The prospect of the country here is extremely pleasing, as it is not so much inter- 
cepted by woods, but offers more cultivated fields to view. Hills and valleys still 
continued, as usual, to change alternately. 



104 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

The farms were near each other. Most of the houses were wooden ; however, 
some were built of stone. Near every farm-house was an orchard with apple-trees. 
Here and on the whole journey before, I observed a press for cider at every farm- 
house, made in different manners, by which the people had already pressed the juice 
out of the apples or were just busied with that work. Some people made use of a 
wheel made of thick oak planks which turned upon a wooden axis, by means of a 
horse drawing it, much in the same manner as the people do with wood; except that 
here the wheel runs upon a plank. Cherry-trees stood along the inclosures round 
the corn-fields. 

The corn-fields were excellently situated, either sown with wheat or rye. They 
had no ditches on their sides, but (as is usual in England) only furrows, drawn at 
greater or lesser distances from each other. 

In one place we observed a water-mill, so situated that, when the tide flowed, the 
water ran into a pond; but when it ebbed, the flood-gate was drawn up, and the mill 
driven bv the water flowing out of the pond. 

About eight o'clock in the morning, we arrived at the place where we were to 
cross the water, in order to come to the town of New York. We left our horses 
here, and went on board of the yacht: we were to go eight English miles by sea; 
however, we landed about eleven o'clock in the morning at New York. 

We saw a kind of wild ducks in immense quantities upon the water: the people 
called them blue-bills, and they seemed to be the same with our pintal ducks or 
Linnaeus's Anas acuta; but they were very shy. On the shore of the continent we 
saw some very fine sloping corn-fields which at present looked quite green ; the corn 
already had come up. We saw many boats, in which the fishermen were busy catch- 
ing oysters : to this purpose they make use of a kind of rake with long teeth bent 
inwards ; these they used either single or two tied together in such a manner that 
the teeth were turned toward each other. 

October 31st. About New York they find innumerable quantities of excellent 
oysters, and there are few places which have oysters of such exquisite taste and of so 
great a size : they are pickled and sent to the West Indies and other places; which 
is done in the following manner : As soon as the oysters are caught, their shells are 
opened, and the fish washed clean ; some water is then poured into a pot, the oysters 
are put into it, and they must boil for a while ; the pot is then taken off from the 
fire again, the oysters taken out and put upon a dish till they are somewhat dry : 
then you take some mace, allspice, black pepper, and as much vinegar as you think 
sufficient to give a sourish taste. All this is mixed with half the liquor in which the 
oysters were boiled and put over the fire again. While you boil it, great care is to 
be taken in scumming off the thick scum; at the last the whole pickle is poured into 
a glass or earthen vessel, the oysters are put into it, and the vessel is well stopped to 
keep out the air. In this manner oysters will keep for years together, and may be 
sent to the most distant parts of the world. 

The merchants here buy up great quantities of oysters about this time, pickle 
them in the above-mentioned manner, and send them to the West Indies : by which 
they frequently make a considerable profit : for the oysters which cost them five 
shillings of their currency, they commonly sell for a pistole, or about six times as 
much as they give for them; and sometimes they get even more: the oysters which 
are thus pickled have a very fine flavor. The following is another way of preserv- 
ing oysters : They are taken out of the shells, fried with butter, put into a glass or 
earthen vessel with the melted butter over them, so that they are quite covered with 



comley's history of the state of new york. 105 

it and no air can get to them. Oysters prepared in this manner have likewise an 
agreeable taste, and are exported to the West Indies and other parts. 

Oysters are here considered very wholesome. Some people assured us that they 
have not felt the least inconvenience after eating a considerable quantity of them. 
It is likewise a common rule here, that oysters are best in those months which have 
an " r " in their name, such as September, October, etc., but that they are not so 
good in other months. However, there are poor people who live all the year long 
upon nothing but oysters and bread. 

The sea near New York affords annually the greatest quantities of oysters. They 
are found chiefly in a muddy ground, where they lie in the slime, and are not so fre- 
quent in a sandy bottom : a rocky and a stony bottom is seldom found here. The 
oyster-shells are gathered in great heaps, and burnt into a lime, which by some people 
is made use of in building houses, but is not reckoned so good as that made of lime- 
stone. On our journey to New York we saw high heaps of oyster-shells near the 
farm-houses upon the sea-shore, and about New York we observed the people had 
carried them upon the fields, which were sown with wheat. However, they were 
entire and not crushed. 

The Indians who inhabited the coast before the arrival of the Europeans have 
made oysters and other shell-fish their chief food ; and at present, whenever they come 
to a salt water where oysters are to be got, they are very active in catching them and 
selling them in great quantities to other Indians who live higher up in the country : 
for this reason you see immense numbers of oyster and muscle-shells piled up near 
such places where you are certain that the Indians formerly built their huts, 

This circumstance ought to make us cautious in maintaining that in all places 
on the sea-shore, or higher up in the country, where such heaps of shells are to be 
met with, the latter have lain there ever since the time that those places were over- 
flowed by the sea. 

Lobsters are likewise plentifully hereabouts pickled much the same way as 
oysters, and sent to several places. I was told of a very remarkable circumstance 
about these lobsters, and I have afterward frequently heard it mentioned. The 
coast of New York had already European inhabitants for a considerable time ;yet no 
lobsters were to be met with on that coast ; and though the people fished ever so 
often, they could never find any signs of lobsters being in this part of the sea : they 
were therefore continually brought in great well-boats from New England, where 
they are plentiful; but it happened that one of these well-boats broke in pieces near 
Hell-gate, about ten English miles from New York, and all the lobsters in it got 
off. Since that time they have so multiplied in that part of the sea, that they are now 
caught in the greatest abundance. 

Nov. 1 st. A kind of cold fever, which the English in this country call fever 
and ague, is very common in several parts of the English colonies. There are, how- 
ever, other parts where the people have never felt it. I will in the sequel describe 
the symptoms of this disease at large. Several of the most considerable inhabitants 
of this town assured me that the disease was not near so common in New York as 
it is in Pennsylvania, where ten were seized by it to one in the former province ; 
therefore they were of opinion that this disease was occasioned by the vapors aris- 
sing from stagnant fresh water, from marshes, and from rivers, for which reason 
those provinces situated on the sea-shore could not be so much affected by it. How- 
ever, the carelessness with which people eat quantities of melons, peaches, and other 
juicy fruit, in summer, was reckoned to contribute much toward the progress of 
this fever, and repeated examples confirmed the truth in this opinion. The Jesuits 

14 



106 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

bark was reckoned a good remedy against it. It lias, however, been found to have 
operated contrary to expectation, though I am ignorant whether it was adulter- 
ated, or whether some mistake had been committed in the manner of taking it. 

Mr. Davis Van Home, a merchant, told me that he cured himself and several other 
people of this fever, by the leaves of the common garden sage, or Salvia officinalis of 
Linnaeus. The leaves are crushed or pounded in a mortar, and the juice is pressed 
out of them : this is continued till they get a spoonful of the liquid, which is mixed 
with lemon-juice. This draught is taken about the time the cold fit comes on, and 
after taking it three or four times, the fever does not come on again. 

The bark of the white oak was reckoned the best remedy which had as yet been 
found against the dysentery. It is reduced to a powder, and then taken. Some peo- 
ple assured me that in cases where nothing would help, this remedy had given a cer- 
tain and speedy relief. 

The people in this place likewise make use of this bark (as is usually done in 
the English colonies) to dye wool a brown color, which looks like that of bohea 
tea, and does not fade by being exposed to the sun. Among the numerous shells 
which are found on the sea-shore, there are some which by the English are called 
clams, and which bear some resemblance to the human ear. They have a consider- 
able thickness, and are chiefly white, excepting the pointed end, which both 
without and within has a blue color, between purple and violet. They are met 
with in vast numbers on the sea-shore of New York, Long Island, and other places. 

A considerable commerce is carried on in this article, with such Indians as live 
further up the country, When these people inhabited the coast, they were able to 
catch their own clams, which at that time made a great part of their food ; but at 
present this is the business of the Dutch and English, who live on Long Island and 
other maritime provinces. As soon as the shells are caught, the fish are taken out of 
them, drawn upon a wire, and hung up in the open air, in order to dry by the heat 
of the sun. When this is done, the fish is put in proper vessels, and carried to Al- 
bany upon the river Hudson; there the Indians buy them, and reckon them one of 
their best dishes. Besides of the Europeans, many of the native Indians come 
annually down to the sea-shore in order to catch clams, proceeding with them after- 
wards in the manner I have just described. 

The shells of these clams are used by the Indians as money, and make what 
they call their wampum ; they likewise serve their women for an ornament, when 
they intend to appear in full dress. These wampum are properly made of the pur- 
ple parts of the shells, which the Indians value more than the white parts. A tra- 
veller, who goes to trade with the Indians and is well stocked with them, may 
become a considerable gainer ; but if he take gold coin or bullion, he will un- 
doubtedly be a loser ; for the Indians who live further up in the country put little 
or no value upon these metals, which we reckon so precious, as I have frequently 
observed in the course of my travels. The Indians formerly made their own wam- 
pum, though not without a deal of trouble ; but at present the Europeans employ 
themselves that way ; especially the inhabitants of Albany, who get a considerable 
profit by it. 

November 2d. Besides the different sects of Christians, there are many Jews 
settled in New York, who possess great privileges. They have a synagogue and 
houses, and great country-seats of their own property, and are allowed to keep 
shops in town. They have likewise several ships, which they freight and send out 
with their own goods. In fine, they enjoy all the privileges common to the other 
inhabitants of this town and province. 



COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. \oy 

During my residence at New York this time, and in the next ten years, I Avas 
frequently in company with the Jews. I was informed, among other things, that 
people never boiled any meat for themselves on Saturday, but they always did it the 
day before; and that in winter they kept a fire during the whole Saturday. They 
commonly eat no pork ; yet I have been told by several men of credit that many 
of them (especially among the young Jews), when travelling, did not make the least 
difficulty about eating this or any other meat that was put before them, even though 
thev were in company with Christians. I was in their synagogue last evening, 
for the first time, and this day at noon I visited it again ; and each time I was 
put in a particidar seat, which was set apart for strangers or Christians. A young 
Rabbi read the divine service, which was partly in Hebrew and partly in the 
rabbinical dialect. Both men and women were dressed entirely in the English 
fashion ; the former had all of them their hats on, and did not once take them off during 
service. The galleries, I observed, were appropriated to the ladies, while the men sat 
below. During prayers, the men spread a white cloth over their heads ; which perhaps 
is to represent sackcloth. But I observed the wealthier sort of people had a much 
richer cloth than the poorer ones. Many of the men had Hebrew books, in which 
they sang and read alternately. The Rabbi stood in the middle of the synagogue, 
and read with his face toward the east : he spoke, however, so fast as to make it 
most impossible for any one to understand what he said. 

New York, the capital of a province of the same name, is situated under forty degs. 
and forty min. north lat. and seventy-four degs. and four min. of western long., 
from London ; and is about ninety-seven English miles distant from Philadel- 
phia. The situation of it is extremely advantageous for trade; for the town 
stands upon a point which is formed by two bays, into one of which the river 
Hudson discharges itself not far from the town. "New York is therefore on three 
sides surrounded with water; the ground it is built on is level in some parts, 
and hilly in others : the place is generally reckoned very wholesome. 

The town was first founded by the Dutch. This, it is said, was done in the year 
1623, when thev were vet masters. They called it New Amsterdam, and the coun- 
try itself New Holland. The English, toward the end of the year 1664, taking 
possession of it under the conduct of Des Cartes, and keeping it by the virtue of the 
next treaty of peace, gave the name of New York to both the town and province be- 
longing to it. In size it comes nearest to Boston and Philadelphia. But with 
regard to its fine buildings, its opulence and extensive commerce, it disputes the 
preference with them ; at present it is about half again as large as Gottenburgh 
in Sweden. 

The streets do not run so straight as those of Philadelphia, and have some- 
times considerable bendings; however, they are very spacious and well built, and 
most of them are paved, except in high places, where it has been found useless. 
In the chief stieets there are trees planted, which in summer afford a cooling 
shade. I found it extremely pleasant to walk in the town, for it seemed quite 
like a garden. The trees which are planted for this purpose are chiefly of two kinds. 
The waterbeech, Linnaeus's Plantanus occidentalis, are the most numerous, and give 
an agreeable shade in summer by their great and numerous leaves. The locust-tree, 
or Linnaeus's Robinia pseudacacia, is likewise frequent; its fine leaves and the 
odoriferous scent which exhales from its flowers make it very proper for being 
planted in the streets, near the houses and in gardens. There are likewise lime-trees 
and elms in these walks ; but they are not by far so frequent as the others. One seldom 
met with trees of the same sort next to each other, they being planted in general 
alternately. 



108 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

Besides number of birds of all kinds, which make these their abode, there is 
likewise a kind of a frog which frequents them in great numbers in summer ; they are 
Dr. Linnaeus's Rana arborea, and especially the American variety of this animal. 
They are very clamorous in the evening and in the nights (especially when the days 
had' been hot and a rain was expected), and in a manner drown the singing of the 
birds. They frequently made such a noise that it is difficult for a person to make 
himself heard. 

Most of the houses are built of brick, and are generally strong and neat, and 
several stories high. Some have, according to old architecture, turned the gable-end 
toward the streets ; but the new houses were altered in this respect. Many 
houses had a balcony on the roof, on which the people used to sit in the even- 
ing in the summer season, and from thence they had a pleasant view of a great 
part of the town, and likewise of part of the adjacent water, and of the opposite 
shore. The roofs are commonly covered with tiles or shingles ; the latter of which 
are made of white fir-trees, or'Pinus Strobus (Linn, sp plant.), which grows high 
up in the country. The inhabitants are of opinion that a roof made of these 
shingles is as durable as one made in Pennsylvania of the white cedar or 
Cupressus thyordes (Linn. sp. plant.). The walls were whitewashed within ; and I 
did not anywhere see hangings, with which the people in this country seem in 
general to be but little acquainted. The walls were quite covered with all sorts of 
drawings and pictures in small frames. On each side of the chimneys they had 
usual sort of alcove, and the wall under the windows was wainscoted, and had 
benches placed near it. The alcoves and all wood-work were painted with a bluish- 
gray color. 

There are several churches in the town which deserve some attention. 
i. The English, built in the year 1695, at the west end of the town, consisting of 
stone, and has a steeple with a bell. 2. The new Dutch church, which is likewise 
built of stone, is pretty large, and is provided with a steeple ; it also has a clock, 
which is the only one in the town. This church stands almost due from north to 
south. No particular point of the compass has here been, in general, attended to in 
erecting sacred buildings. Some churches stand, as is usual, from east to west, others 
from south to north, and others in different positions. In the Dutch church there 
is neither altar, vestry, choir, sconces, nor paintings. Some trees are planted 
round it, which make it look as if it were built in a wood. 3. The old 
Dutch church, which is also built of stone. It is not so large as the new one. 
It was painted in the inside, though without any images, and adorned with a 
small organ, of which Governor Burnet made them a present. The men, for the 
most part, sit in the gallery, and the women below. 4. The Presbyterian church, 
which is pretty large,' and was built but lately. It is of stone, and has a steeple 
and a bell in it. 5. The German Lutheran church. 6. The German Reformed 
church. 7. The French church, for Protestant refugees. 8. The Quaker meeting- 
house. 9. To these may be added the Jewish synagogue, which I mentioned before. 

Toward the sea, on the extremity of the' promontory, is a pretty good fort, 
named George, which entirely commands the port and can defend the town at least 
from a sudden attack on the sea side. Besides, it is likewise secure on the north or 
towards the shore by a palisade, which, however (as for a considerable time the 
people have had nothing to fear from an enemy), is in many places in a very bad state 
of defence. 

There is no good water to be met with in the town itself ; but at a little distance 
ihere is a large spring of good water, which the inhabitants take for their tea and 
for the uses of the kitchen. Those, however, who are less delicate in this point make 



comley's history of the state of NEW YORK. 109 

use of the water from the wells in town, though it be very bad. This want of good 
water lies very heavy on the horses of the stranger that comes to this place; for they 
do not like to drink the water from the wells in the town. 

The port is a good one ; ships of the greatest burthen can lie in it quite close up 
to the bridge; but its water is very salt, as the sea comes continually in upon it, and 
therefore is never frozen except in extraordinary cold weather. This is of great 
advantage to the city and its commerce; for many ships either come in or go 
out of the port at any time of the year, unless the winds be contrary — a convenience 
which, as I have before observed, is wanting at Philadelphia. It is secured from 
violent hurricanes from south-east by Long Island, which is situated just before the 
town ; therefore only the storms from the south-west are dangerous to the ships 
which ride at anchor here, because the port is open only on that side. The entrance, 
however, has its faults. One of them is, that no man-of-war can pass through it; for 
though the water is pretty deep, yet it is not sufficiently so for great ships. Some- 
times even merchant-ships of a large size have, by the rolling of the waves and by 
sinking down between them, slightly touched the bottom, though without any bad 
consequence. Besides this, the canal is narrow ; and for this reason many ships 
have been lost here because they may be easily cast upon a sand-bar, if the ship is 
not well piloted. Some old people, who had constantly been upon the canal, assured 
me that it was neither deeper nor shallower at present than in their youth. 

The common difference between high and low water at New York amounts 
to about six feet, English measure. But at a certain time in every month, when the 
tide flows more than commonly, the difference in the height of the water is seven 
feet. 

New York carries on a more extensive commerce than any town in the English- 
American provinces; at least it may be said to equal them. Boston and Philadel- 
phia, however, come very nearly up to it. The trade of New York extends to many 
places, and it is said they send more ships from thence to London than they do from 
Philadelphia. They export to that capital all the various sorts. 

Advantages of New York, as set forth a Century Ago.— About the 
middle of last century, the attention of the different sections of the country became 
especially directed to the encouragement of colonization from Europe, and a com- 
petition arose between the different cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, 
in respect to the advantages afforded to settlers by the situation and commerce of the 
cities, and the climate and soil of the country adjacent to them. The leading minds 
of the colonies engaged in the publications, to further the views of their respective 
localities, and the newspapers devoted considerable space to articles designed for the 
information of the European public. We copy one of these publications, dated 
!753> which perhaps will give to the people of the present day as novel an idea of 
the olden time as it was new to the people of the old countries at the time of its 
publication : 

" A Brief Consideration of New York with respect to its Natural Advan- 
tages : its Superiority in several Instances over some of the Neighbor- 
ing Colonies. 

" O fortunatos nimium. 
Bona si sua norint." 

"Awake the Muse, bid industry rejoice, 
And the rough sons of lowest labor smile." — Thos. Brit. 

With respect to what nature has done for us, there is not a happier people in 
the world than the inhabitants of this province. I hope the assigning of a few 
instances from whence this happiness is derived, will not be displeasing to them, as 



IIO COMLEYS HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

it tends to inflame them with a love of their country and at the same time excite 
their gratitude for the happiness they enjoy. 

The necessaries of life, which for that reason are its most substantial blessings, 
we possess with the richest affluence. The natural strength and fertility of the soil 
we live upon will, by grazing and tillage, always continue to us the inexhaustible 
source of profuse abundance. There is nothing we possess that mankind can well 
be without and scarce any thing they really want but we either enjoy or can easily 
procure in luxuriant plenty. Provisions, in short, are our staple, and whatever coun- 
try sufficiently abounds with so necessary a commodity can never fail of wealth — a 
sure magazine! which will always be attended with power and plenty, and many 
other springs of social happiness, as its natural concomitants. The want of such 
an unfailing staple is a fountain of misery to a province on the East of more show 
than substance, pomp than riches. By constant supplies from our exuberance, we 
hold them in debt, and annually increase it ; while we are so happy as to taste the 
sweets of the truth of what they have remarked, that there are fewer poor men in 
this than in any one of the plantations of this continent. I have myself spent a 
month in their metropolis, the most splendid town of North America, not without 
some pleasure in reflecting that I had not a morsel of bread, even at their common 
tables, that was not the produce of this colony. Nor has the prettiest beau in the 
town so easy an access to their ladies, as a certain baker of ours universally cele- 
brated there for the goodness of his biskets. 

But this opulence is not our only advantage for raising the trade of this 
Province and enlarging its extent : every thing in it conspires to make New York 
the best mart in the continent. Our coasts are regular, and navigation up to the 
city from the sea, short and bold, and, by a good lighthouse, might be rendered safe 
and easy. 

The publication then goes on to show to the people the vast advantages of the 
North River and the immense extent of water frontage ; and goes on to show the 
disadvantages of Philadelphia, where all the product of the surrounding country 
has to be brought in carts and wagons ; and thus the author shows to the people an 
advantage of 30 per cent in farming in the country surrounding New York over 
that round about Philadelphia. Also shows the expense of transporting a bushel of 
wheat 100 miles in this province to be about one sixth of that in Pennsylvania. 

The article then explains the many disadvantages of Massachusetts and Connec- 
ticut by showing that the many towns are always a mischievous consequence to new 
settlements. After treating on the many drawbacks to the surrounding provinces, 
the author describes the city as follows : 

The city of New York consists of about two thousand five hundred buildings. 
It is a mile in length, and at a medium not above half that in breadth. On the 
south it forms a point into a large bay. The east side lies on a strait which at 
eighteen or twenty miles eastward opens to the sound. It adjoins to Hudson River 
on the west; and such is its figure, its centre of business, and the situation of its 
buildings that the cartage in town from one part to another does not at a medium 
exceed one quarter of a mile. The prodigious advantage of which to a trading city 
is more easily conceived than expressed. It facilitates and expedites the loading 
and unloading of ships, saves time and labor, and is attended with innumerable 
conveniences to the inhabitants. 



COMLEV'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. Ill 



MEMENTOES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 

A Duel. — September, 17 13. A duel was fought near New York by Dr. John 
Livingston and Mr. Thomas Dongan, which resulted in the death of the former. 
Mr. Dongan was tried for murder, and found guilty of manslaughter. 

The Seasons. — 17 18, January 15th. The ice from the rivers had disappeared, 
and the frost was out of the ground. For three weeks previously, the weather had 
been like the spring, and peas, beans, etc., were planted. But a week had scarcely 
elapsed ere severe cold weather set in, and the rivers were filled with ice. 

An Earthquake. — November, 1727. Two shocks of earthquake were felt in 
New York in one day. Crockery fell from shelves, and the clocks in all parts of 
the town ceased the vibration of their pendulums. 

The Commercial Marine. — 1730. The number of vessels that entered the port 
of New York were 211, viz. : From Jamaica 30, from Boston 28, from Barbadoes 14, 
from Bermuda 13, from Curacoa 12, from Antigua 11, from London 7, from Rhode 
Island 7, from North Carolina 6, from Bristol 5, from Dover 5, from South Carolina 
5, from Newfoundland 4, from Philadelphia 3, from Surinam 3, from Madeira 3. 

Small-Pox. — 1731. This disease raged fearfully in New York. Inoculation, 
which was then a novelty, was tried with success. But the safest course was be- 
lieved to be to retire from the locality where it prevailed. The trade of New York 
suffered greatly from this cause, at this as well as other periods when the epidemic 
prevailed. In one place fifty persons died of small-pox. The disease set in about 
midsummer, and continued its ravages until Christmas, during which period about 
six hundred persons fell victims to its ravages. 

First Fire-Engines. — December, 1732. The first fire occurred at which fire- 
engines were used. Two fire-engines had recently been imported from England, 
and companies were formed which became the foundation of the New York fire de- 
partment. Their efficiency was found greatly to exceed the former method of lines 
of bucket-men, passing the water from hand to hand from the nearest wells or from 
the river. 

Hard Times. — 17 35- Political troubles, and high taxes and imposts drove many 
people from the city to seek more advantageous places of residence. No less than 
158 dwellings were to be let at one period. The wealth of the people was freely 
drawn upon to sustain the merchants of the mother country and her officials in this 
province. Philadelphia was a favorite residence, the more especially as it was a 
free port. 

Election. — 1735. A vigorously-contested election for representative of New 
York City in the Provincial Assembly took place. At no period had party spirit run 
so high. The candidates were two leading merchants, Adolph Philipse and Corne- 
lius Van Home. The electors appeared in the fields (now the park), about 9 o'clock, 
with colors flying and drums beating. Apparently, by the show, the friends of Mr. 
Philipse, who were the principal merchants and gentlemen, were in the majority ; 
but a poll was demanded, and thereupon the candidates and electors repaired to the 
City Hall, where the poll was carried on all day till about 9 o'clock at night, with 
the greatest warmth on both sides, the drums and music going about during the 
time. Between 9 and 10 at night the polls closed, and the votes were for Philipse 
413, for Home 399. It was agreed that a scrutiny should be had on the following 
Monday. The zeal of the friends of the candidates was so great that it was supposed 
every voter in the city was brought out. One gentleman used his chariot in bring- 



112 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

ing up voters of all sorts, so that the poor women cried out : " These are fine times 
when carmen and chimney-sweeps ride in coaches." 

Burning of the Archives of Trinity Church. — February, 1750. A fire broke 
out in the new Free School-house, kept by Joseph Hildreth, clerk of Trinity Church. 
The church was frequently in danger, but was saved. All the records of the church 
were consumed. 

The Oyster Pasty Battery. — In May, 1 75 1, some workmen, digging down 
the bank of the North River, in the rear of Trinity Church, discovered a stone 
wall, four or five feet thick, and nearly eight feet under ground. It was supposed 
at the time to be the breastwork of a battery, but the oldest person then living could 
give no account of it. We are more familiar with the city antiquities than the resi- 
dents a century ago, and know from the records which have been published that 
this was at or near the locality of the fortification at the North River end of the 
city wall, called " Oyster Pasty Mount." 

Whales in the North River. — December, 1755, two whales were struck south 
of the Highlands. 

Wild Pigeons. — April, 1759. In one day 75,000 wild pigeons were brought 
to the market in the city, selling at fifty for one shilling. 

Sale of Slaves. — November, 1762. " To be sold at Cruger's Wharf, on board 
the sloops Rebecca and Joseph, just arrived from Arrambo, in Guinea, a parcel 
of likely young slaves, men, women, and boys." 

Pillory and Cage. — September, 1764. The new pillory, with a large wooden 
cage behind it, was erected between the new jail (the present Hall of Records) and 
the workhouse (the site of the City Hall), the cage being for disorderly boys who 
publicly broke the Sabbath. 

King George's Statue. — August, 1770. An elegant equestrian statue, the 
first of the kind in this city of his Majesty George III., was erected in the Bowling 
Green, in presence of a large concourse of persons, and amid music and a dis- 
charge of ordnance. It remained six years, but was destroyed by the Liberty Boys, 
in 1776, and its material (lead) cast into bullets. 

The Battery. — July, 1735. The first stone of the platform of the new battery 
on Whitehall rocks was laid by his Excellency, the Governor (Cosby), who named 
the battery, after his son-in-law, the " George Augustus Royal Battery." At the 
close of the ceremonies one of the cannon burst, by which three persons were 
killed, namely, John Symes, Esq., High Sheriff; Miss Courtland, daughter of Col- 
onel Courtland, one of the members of his Majesty's Council ; and a son-in-law of 
Alderman Romer. 

The Dutch Church in the Fort. — June, 1790. While engaged in the work 
at the Government house, on the site of the old fort, a flat stone was taken up from 
under the ruins of the chapel which formerly stood there, on which was found to 
be the tablet of the Dutch church erected within that inclosure in 1642. It had 
upon it the following inscription : 

"An. Do. M. D. C. X. L. I. I. N. 
Kieft, Dr. Gl. Heeft 
de Gemeenten Deese 
Temple doen Bouwen." 

Translation : "Anno Domini 1642, N. Kieft, Director-General, hath caused the con- 
gregation to erect this temple." 

Pirates and Privateers. — July, 1723. Captain Peter Solgard, commander of 



comley's history of the state of NEW YORK. 113 

H. M. ship Greyhound, the station-ship of this province, on a cruise on the 
coast, on intelligence given him, pursued and overhauled two pirate sloops, com- 
manded by one Low, a " notorious inhuman pirate," after much resistance capturing 
one and shattering the other, who, however, escaped in the night, whereupon the 
freedom of the City was presented to the gallant officer. 

The Windmill on the Commons. — December, 1723. The land lying near 
the windmill formerly of Jasper Nessepot, near the commons of the city, was sur- 
veyed, with the view of laying out a regular width the high road now known as 
Chatham street. 

The City Fathers. — 1728. The members of the city government generally 
personally attended to the laying out of public lands, and on such occasions a fine 
collation was served at the public expense. 

Beekman's Swamp.— 1728. Ten lots sold by the city, 25 x 120, for ^100. 

The First Public Library.— July, 1729. The Rev. Dr. Millington, Rector of 
Newington, in England, bequeathed to the Society for Propagating the Gospel 
1642 volumes of miscellaneous works, which became the foundation of the present 
Society Library. 

Negroes and Slaves. — 1731- The law for regulating required that no negro 
or Indian slave above fourteen years should appear in the streets south of 
Fresh Water Brook (Pearl and Chatham streets), in the night, after an hour suc- 
ceeding sunset, without a lantern, by the light of which they could be plainly seen, 
or else to be in company with a white person. 

Office holders. — 1732. William Sharpas had been city clerk for over forty 
years, and continued to hold the office some years subsequently, when he died. At 
the time above stated he petitioned for an increase of salary. 

Trinity Church. — 1696. During this year Trinity Church was begun ; it was 
opened for worship by the Rev. Mr. Vesey in the year 1697. This building was 
enlarged in 1735-6, and burnt down in 1776, and another building erected in 1788. 
It was consecrated by Bishop Provoost, in 1791. The last has, in its turn (1839), been 
demolished, with the intention of erecting a third Trinity. The cemetery of this 
church was granted by the Common Council gratuitously to the vestry in 1703, on 
condition that it be neatly fenced, and that the fees for burial be limited to 3s. 6d. 
for grown persons, and is. 6d. for those under twelve years of age. By the records 
it appears that this cemetery had received more than 160,000 bodies before the con- 
flagration of 1776. 

Bolting and Baking Monopoly.— 1696. Upon inquiry, it is found that there 
is not more than seven hundred bushels of corn within the city, and the number 
of inhabitants being computed six thousand or more, therefore found that the stock 
of corn would not be sufficient for a week's maintenance. The cause assigned by 
the Common Council for this scarcity is "the liberty and latitude that every planter 
had lately taken, of making his house or farm a market for his wheat, or converting 
the same into flour by bolting of it, and that under pretence of a privilege they con- 
ceived they have obtained, by virtue of a law of the General Assembly, entitled an 
act against unlawful by-laws," which had deprived the city of the monopoly formerly 
enjoyed. 

The Mayor craves advice to remove this intolerable grievance, that the city may 
be restored to its rights and privileges; they recommend an address to his majesty 
for the repeal of said law, and a committee is accordingly appointed. An assize of 
rye bread agreed on — a loaf weighing five pounds for 4^d., rye being at 3s. 3d. the 
bushel. 

*5 



u 4 comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

Watch and Police Regulations.— 1676. " Ordered that the watch be set 
every night by eight o'clock; immediately after the ringing of the bell. That the 
city gates be locked up by the constable or deputy, before nine of the clock, and 
opened in the morning presently after daylight, at the dismission of the watch, and 
if any person goes from, or absents himself without consent, he, or they, shall forfeit 
for every such default ten guilders." That the sergeant or corporal of the watch, 
shall at all times succeed the deputy constables on the watch for the execution 
thereof. That if any one come upon the watch overcharged with drink, he shall 
pay two guilders ; but if abusive or quite drunk, he is to pay the same as if he 
absented himself, four guilders. If any person shall quarrel upon the watch on 
account of being of different nations or other pretence, he shall pay four guilders. 
Any sentinel leaving his post before he is relieved, shall pay twenty guilders, and 
suffer three days' imprisonment. The sentinel to stand on his post one hour. That 
frequent rounds about the city be made, especially toward the bridge. No cursing 
and swearing shall be allowed upon the watch, nor any gaming at dice or cards, 
nor any exercise of drinkinges upon the penalty of four guilders. That alist of fines 
be brought by the provost unto the mayor. The sergeant belonging to every watch 
shall come with his halbert ; and see that every one of the watch brings his amies, 
that is to say, his sword and good half pike. Every head of a family to have one 
good musket or firelock, with six charges of powder and six of ball at least, on 
penalty of four guilders for the first offence, eight for the second, and twelve for the 
third ; and the officers of each county are to search four times a yeare. The citizen 
soldiers are to appear with good arms before their captain's coullers, at the first 
beating of the drum. Penalty for non-appearance, thirty guilders — for defficient 
amies, ten. 

January 20th. Ordered, by the mayor and aldermen, that all masters of vessels 
arriving at New York, as soon as they shall come ashore, give an account to the 
mayor of all and every passenger ; penalty for neglect, a merchandable beaver. 
Ordered, that no person shall sell any goods, wares, etc., by retail, on pain of for- 
feiture, unless he be a freeman, or made free, or burgher of this city, settled house- 
keeper ; unless by special licence from the mayor, etc., with approbation from 
the governor. Any person departing from the city, unless he keep fire and 
candle light, and pay scott and lott, shall lose his freedom ; and every merchant 
hereafter to be made free shall pay for the same six bevers— and handicraft trades 
and others to pay two bevers for being made free. Ordered, that all persons that 
keep public houses shall sell beer, as well as wine and other liquors, and keep 
lodging for strangers ; dated 20th January. Samuel Leeth Clarke. 

April 14th. Proclaimed, that every merchant trading at this place, before the 
new docke or wharfe (intending to be built) shall be finished and paid for, shall pay 
proportionably for his estate, the same as the inhabitants and other traders here, 
towards the building of the same. 15th April, allowed by the governor, and forth- 
with to be put in execution. 

Proposals by the mayor and aldermen, presented to his honor, the governor. 
That there be six houses appointed to sell all sorts of wine, brandy, and rum, and 
lodging. That there be eight houses appointed to sell beer, cider, mum, and rum, 
and to provide for strangers as the law directs, to sell brandy, rum, and strong 
waters, and tobacco. That two of the wine-houses be ordinariyes : and four of the 
beer-houses. The prices of wines and other liquors as they are to be sold by the 
trappers: French wines, is. 3d. per quart; Fayal wines and St. Georges, is. 6d. ; 
Madera wines, and portapont, is. iod. ; Canaryes, Bresadoes, and Malagoes, 2s. per 



comley's history of the state of new york. 115 

quart; Brandy, 6d. per gill; Rum, 3d. per gill ; Syder, 4d. per quart; Double beer, 
3d. per quart; Mum, 6d. per quart. The ordinary at wine-houses, is. per meal; at 
beer-houses, 8d. per meal. Lodging at wine-house, 4d. per night ; at the beer-house, 
3d. per night. 

Proclamation was made by the governor, Edward Andros, February 3d, that 
a weekly market should be held every Saturday at the houses built for that purpose 
by the water side, near the bridge, i.e., at the foot of Broad street, the first market to 
be held March 24th, and a fair to be held at Breukly for cattle, grain, and country 
produce, the first Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in November; and in the city 
at the market-house and plain before the fort the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 
following. All persons coming thereto are to be free from any arrest or debt coming 
or returning: from said market or fair. This Proclamation to remain in force three 
years from the 24th of March next. 

Matthew Hillyer petitions the common council, and says that he hath kept school 
for children of both sexes, for two years past, to the satisfaction of their parents; 
but as he understands complaints have been made to the Mayor, etc., and to be 
trobled with so often removals. But your petitioner understanding of an obstruc- 
tion, by a person lately arrived, who endeavours the circumventing of your petitioner, 
and reaps the fruits of his labors, of which likewise your petitioner has fully in- 
formed your honor, who is by the petitioner's humble request pleased to ordering 
of a school and master to your worship's pleasure, giving your petitioner hopes and 
encouragement that by your worship's wisdom things may be better regulated ; and 
he requests that he may be established in his employ, in which, with the help of God, 
he doubts not he shall give your worships satisfaction. 

August 25th. Upon the petitions of Ebenezer Kirtland and Matthew Hillyer, it 
is ordered that Matthew Hillyer continue in the same — the school-master's office, 
in behaving himself for the future better than the time past, and instead of £12 the 
annum, according to the former order, is only to have a room provided for him. 

The court choose two tanners, and forbid all others to exercise the trade ; and 
Peter Pangborne is chosen the currier of the city. Also ordered that no butcher be 
permitted to be currier, or shoemaker, or tanner; nor shall any tanner be either 
currier, shoemaker, or butcher, it being consonant to the laws of England, and prac- 
tice in the neighboring colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Further, it is 
ordered that if any Indians shall be seen coming out drunk of any house, that it shall 
be a sufficient conviction ; and if seen drunk in the street, and the house not found 
out, or known where he or she were made drunk, the whole street to be finable. 
Likewise ordered that no person distill any grain unless it be unfit to grind and 
boalt. 

Captain Kidd.— Assembly Journal, Saturday, the 18th of April, 1691. Gabriel 
Monville, Esq., and Thomas Willett, Esq., are appointed to attend the House of 
Representatives, and acquaint them of the many good services done to this province 
by Capt. William Kidd in his attending here with his vessels before his Excellency's 
arrived, and that it would be acceptable to his Excellency and this Board that they 
consider of some suitable reward to him for his good services. 

Per order, 

DAVID JAMISON, Clerk 

Of the Council. 

Ordered, Thursday, 8 o'clock A.M., May 14th, '91, That his Excellency be 
addressed unto, to order the Receiver General to pay to Captain William Kidd one 




comley's history of the state OF NEW YORK. 

hundred and fifty pounds, current money of this Province, as a suitable reward for 
the many good services done to this Province. 

Classical School.— Assembly Journal, October 3d, 1732. Ordered, That care 
be given to bring in a bill for encouraging a public school, to teach Latin, Greek, 
arithmetic, and the mathematics, in the city of New York ; and that for the encour- 
agement of a school-master for that purpose, the unappropriated money, to rise by 
the act for licensing hawkers and peddlers, until the first day of December, 1737, be 
applied for that end ; and that the said city make up the income of that fund annually, 

during that time, to the sum of pounds; and that in consideration thereof, the 

said school-master shall be obliged to teach gratis the number of children. 

Road to Harlem. — Assembly Journal, October 4th, 1740. A petition of several 
inhabitants and freeholders, of the Out ward of the city of New York, was presented 
to the house, and read, setting forth, 

That the King's Road or Highway is laid out to Adrian Hogland's house, and 
no farther, so that those who live or reside thereabouts are obliged to go about 
eleven rounds in going to Harlem ; whereas, if the King's Road or Highway be laid 
out from Adrian Hogland's house to the King's Road or Highway, at Harlem, it 
will be no more than three quarters of a mile, and therefore, pray that a King'.-- Road 
or Highway may be laid out from Hogland's house to the said King's Road at 
Harlem, which will be of great ease to the inhabitants there settled, as well as to 
travellers ; Ordered, that the petitioners serve the owners of such land who may 
be affected by the prayer of the said petitioner with a copy of this petition; after 
which, both parties may attend if they think fit. 

Lighting the City. — December, 1697. Resolved, that the mode of lighting the 
city be that, during the dark time of the moon, until the 25th of March next, every 
seventh householder cause a lantern and candle to be hung out on a pole every 
night. The expense to be divided equally between the seven. The aldermen are 
charged to see this done. 

Arrival of a Governor. — Resolved, that a dinner be proposed at the charge 
of the corporation, for the entertainment of his Excellency, Richard, Earl of Bello- 
mont, Captain-General, etc., etc., and a committee appointed to make a bill of fare 
(two aldermen and two assistants), and that for the effectual doing thereof, they call 
to their assistance such cooks as they shall think necessary to advise. 

Duties of Aldermen. — 1700. Alderman Provoost and Mr. Duykink appointed 
to take care that the public house or office on the dock be cleaned and put in repair, 
and a person appointed daily to keep the same clean. 

Showing Date of Birth of the First Female Born in New York. — The 
ship New Netherland, which brought to the new world the first colony of fam- 
ilies, arrived at the bay of the Hudson River in the year 1623. The colonists com- 
menced at once to erect cabins for their temporary accommodation on the southerly 
point of Manhattan Island, their cattle being turned out upon the island in the 
harbor, now known as Governor's Island. Among these colonists were Jons Jansen 
de Rapelje, and the young woman who was then, or soon after became, his wife, a 
young couple whose first child was born in June, 1625. This child is alluded to 
in the public records, at a period when she had herself become a mother, and a favor 
was granted her of a public nature, one of the inducements to which was that she 
was "the first born Christian daughter" born in the colony of the New Netherlands. 

Under these circumstances, the family record of the Rapeljes is of peculiar 
interest ; and fortunately, it has been preserved in perfect form during the inter- 
vening centuries. We give the translation of the original record: 



comley's history of the state of new york. 117 

The names ami family register of the children of George jfansen de Rappelje, and Cataline 

his wife. 

1625, the 9th of June, is born the first daughter of George Jansen de Rappelje, named Sara. 

1627, the nth of March, is born the second daughter, named Marratis. 

1629, the 18th of August, is born the third daughter, named Jannetie. 

1635, the 5th of July, is born the fourth daughter, named Judick. 

1637, the 28th of August, is born the first son, named Jan. 

1639, the 28th of May, is born the second son, named Jacob. 

1641, the 28th of March, is born the fifth daughter, named Catalyna. 

1643, the 27th of June, is born the third son, named Jeronimus. 

1646, the 8th of February, is born the sixth daughter, named Annetie. 

1648, the 28th of March, is born the seventh daughter, named Elizabeth. 

1050, the 29th of December, is born the fourth son, named Daniel. 

Social Amusements in the Olden Time in New York. — The amuse- 
ments in bygone days partook, much more than at present, of local gatherings, 
such as supper-parties at the public gardens and "tea-houses," dancing-parties, 
etc. Public exhibitions, such as might attract amusement-seekers to an evening 
entertainment, were comparatively rare, although a house for theatrical performan- 
ces was erected as early as 175 1 , and a regular company was for many subsequent 
years established in the city. Itinerant performers of various sorts also travelled 
through the city and erected temporary places for their exhibitions ; but these failed 
to take the place of the social entertainments with which the descendants of the old 
Dutch stock delighted to pass away their festive hours, of which dancing-parties 
were the leading feature. For a long time prior to the Revolution, the dances in 
vogue were mostly those introduced from English sources, with others of Ameri- 
can production ; and they were, all of them, of a lively character, involving swift 
motions of the feet and aerial movements upon the toes ; the " double-shuffle," the 
" pigeon-wing," being steps which marked the proficiency and grace of the per- 
former. It was not alone, however, by individual agility, that these dances were 
characterized ; the graceful evolutions, in which the ease of the dancers might be 
indulged; but on the contrary, they were of such a nature as to require constant 
movement and vigorous action. This period dates back to about the middle of the 
present century. 

The Battery. — 1695, October. The governor and council, in consequence of 
actual war between the King and Queen on one part, and the French, and the knowl- 
edge that a squadron of ships are ordered to invade this city, ordered that a platform 
be made upon the outmost point of the rocks, under the fort. Whereupon, as the Gov- 
ernor says, " I intend to build a battery to command both rivers;" therefore he requires 
the corporation to order the inhabitants of the Out ward part of the city, and Manning 
and Barnes's Island, to cut down eighty-six cords of stockades of twelve feet in length, 
and to have them in readiness at the water-side, to be conveyed to New York at the 
charge of the city and county." 

1694, January 15th. The common council addressed the governor. They 
thanked him for ordering the platform and battery on the point of the rocks under 
the fort — " a work absolutely needful, and of so great a contrivance, that no doubt 
(by the assistance of God, your excellency's indefatigable diligence, etc.) the prov- 
ince for the future will be in perfect security, and the rumor thereof make the enemy 
change his measure, and not attack the city. 

Ferry to Long Island. — 1699, February. The ferry is let for seven years, on 
condition of security for payment given. The former to provide two great boats or 
scows for cattle, etc., and two small boats for passengers, one of each to be kept on 



Il8 COMLEV'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

each side. That the city build a ferry-house within the first year of the lease. The 
fare for a single person is fixed at eight stivers in wampum, or a silver twopence. 

If a company cross together, each is to pay four stivers in wampum, or a silver 
pennv ; but after sunset, double ferriage. A single horse, is.; several in company, 
gd. ; a colt, 3d. ; a hog the same as a single person ; a sheep, half; a barrel of liquid, 
3d. ; an empty barrel, four stivers in wampum, or a silver penny ; a beast's hide,. do. ; 
a firkin or tub of butter, two stivers in wampum; a bushel of corn, half; a hogs- 
head of tobacco, 9d. 

The rent per year is ^165. 

Mails. — 1705^ May 14th. "The Pennsylvania postman has not yet come in, 
and it is supposed the three days of rainy weather last week has hindered him." 

The Original Mammoth. — 1705, July. " There is a prodigious tooth brought 
here, supposed to be the tooth of a man," from the shop. " It weighs 4^ lbs." It 
was dug up on the side of a hill, thirty or forty feet under ground, " near a place 
called Clovarack, about thirty miles this side of Albany ; it is looked upon here as a 
mighty wonder, whether the tooth of a man or beast." Other bones were dug up, 
which crumbled away from exposure to the air ; " they say one of them, which is 
thought to be a thigh-bone, was seventeen feet long." 

Capture of Pirates. — 1723, July 25th. The Common Council, in consideration 
of the services done by Captain Peter Solgard, of his Majesty's ship Greyhound, 
in seeking and engaging two pirate sloops, commanded by one Low, " a notorious 
and inhuman pirate," one of which sloops he took, after a desperate resistance, and 
very much shattered the other, which, by the favor of the night, escaped — "Twenty- 
six of the pirates were lately executed at Rhode Island ; therefore, ordered that the 
freedom of the city, in a gold box, be presented to him — the arms of this corpor- 
ation to be engraved on one side thereof, and a representation of the engagement 
on the other, with this motto, " Qmesitos Humani Generis Hastes debellare superbum, 
10th Junii, 1723." Charles Le Roux, goldsmith, is paid, the 6th of August, ^23 19s. 
for the above box and engraving the same. (This Charles Le Roux appeared, at 
this time, as an artist in New York.) The corporation waited upon Captain Peter 
Solgard, and presented said box, which he " accepted with great satisfaction, and 
invited the corporation to a collation to-morrow night." The pirates thus taken 
were captured off the east part of Long Island. 

The First Presbyterian Church in Wall Street.— 1718, April 16th. Gilbert 
Livingston, Thomas Grant, Patrick Macknight, and John Nicholls, in behalf of them- 
selves and the congregation of dissenting Protestants, called Presbyterians, represent 
that they have bought a piece of ground continuous to the City Hall, or near there- 
unto, with intent, speedily, to erect a meeting-house for public worship, and they 
pay for the use of the City Hall for the same purpose, until their meeting-house is 
finished. 

First Daily Newspaper in New York.— 1785. The Daily Advertiser was 
started. 

Cold Weather. — 1780, January 29th. Eighty sleighs, with provisions, escorted 
by one hundred soldiers, crossed the harbor on the ice from Staten Island to New 
York. 

A Nobleman's Mother. — 1760, April. Mrs. Mary Alexander died. She had kept 
a store in New York for many years. Her husband was a distinguished lawyer, who 
acquired wealth and distinction here. Her son was educated in England, and after 
his father's death visited that country, where he attempted to procure recognition of 
his claim to the title of the Earl of Stirling. Her relationship to the late Earl was 



comley's history of the state of new york. 119 

so far established as to secure the indorsement of a jury, though not under forms 
which were recognized by the House of Peers. He assumed the title, but was spe- 
cially enjoined from its use. He returned to America, where by courtesy he was 
addressed by his title. He became a distinguished American general. 
Estimate for the Support of the City.— 1800. 

Almshouse $30,000 

Bridewell 5.ooo 

Roads 7.550 

Streets 5, 000 

Support of Prisoners'. 3, 000 

Contingencies 2 9.450 

Watch 25,000 

Lamps 15.000 

Wells and Pumps 2,500 

City Contingencies 7-500 

Total $130,000 

Mild Weather. — 1755. The winter was so mild that navigation was open on 
the Hudson to Albany during the whole season. 

After the Great Fire of 1776. — Proclamation by Major-General James Robertson. 
Whereas, there is ground to believe that the rebels, not satisfied with the destruction 
of part of the city, entertain designs of burning the rest. And it is thought that a 
watch, to inspect ail the parts of the city, to apprehend incendiaries, and to stifle 
fires before they rise to a dangerous height, might be a necessary and a proper means 
to prevent such a calamity. Many of the principal inhabitants have applied to me 
to form such a watch, and have all offered to watch in person. I do therefore 
require and direct that all persons may take a part in this matter and turn out to 
watch when called for. A sense of duty and interest will lead all good subjects and 
citizens cheerfully to give their attendance; and any who refuse to take part in 
preserving the city will be judged unworthy to inhabit it. I have appointed per- 
sons to summon and superintend the Watch of each Ward, and the number of men 
to be given by each is subjoined. Signed, James Robertson, Major-General, Com- 
mander in New York. 

The Out Ward to furnish 14 men each night. 

Montgomerie Ward to furnish 15 men each night. 

North Ward to furnish 15 men each night. 

These to meet at the Guard-Room near Cuyler's Sugar-House. 

West Ward to furnish 6 men each night. 

South Ward to furnish 4 men each night. 

Dock Ward to furnish 10 men each night. 

East Ward to furnish 16 men each night. 

These to meet at the Guard-House in Hanover Square. 

The First Negro Plot in the City of New York.— The institution of 
slavery, as it existed in early times in New York, was a source of constant anxiety 
to the inhabitants of this city, arising from the turbulent character of that class of 
the population. This arose partly from the fact that the slave-trade was then in 
active operation, and New York City was the mart from whence the other parts of 
the colony were supplied. A slave-market was established, where the imported ne- 
groes were exposed for sale, and where other slaves stood for hire. The negroes, 
when newly arrived, were ill at ease, and differed greatly from the same class who 
had been born on the soil. Ignorant of the language of the country, and unused to 



120 COMLEV'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

labor in the fields, and to the restraint under which they were held, the imported 
negroes were disposed to deeds of desperate outrage, reckless of the fact that no 
good result to them could arise from their wild endeavors to rid themselves of thral- 
dom. Their known dispositions, however, excited fear, which was kept alive by the 
occasional murders in different parts of the country, and especially by various plots 
of still more serious nature. 

Among these was one in the spring of 171 2. At this time a combination of from 
thirty to fifty newly-imported negroes was formed with the intention to make a 
general assault upon the town. Their plans were laid with secrecy, and do not ap- 
pear to have been suspected before they were ripe for execution. The design ap- 
pears to have been simply to murder the people and burn the town ; and the time 
selected for beginning their bloody work was midnight of the 6th of April, 1712. 
The method adopted was to set fire to a house and await the coming forth of the in- 
mates, when they, as well as others who came to quench the flames, were to be 
killed. The negroes were well armed, while it might reasonably be expected that 
citizens aroused from their slumbers by the cry of fire would be defenceless. The 
alarm took place about two o'clock, and the whole town was at once in uproar. 
Upon reaching the burning house, one citizen after another was dispatched, until 
the number killed and mortally wounded amounted to about twenty persons 
The cry of murder, added to the general din, soon changed the character of 
the affrav. The citizens speedily armed and charged upon the blacks, who, after a 
brief resistance, fled to the woods, pursued by the excited crowd of whites. Mean- 
time, as morning broke, the whole town was placed under arms, under apprehension 
that the conspiracy was more widely diffused, and that there was danger of a gen- 
eral uprising of the slave population. 

This state of things continued several days, in the course of which a large number 
of suspected negroes were arrested in the town, while the hunt was being continued 
throughout the forest, with which nearly all the upper part of Manhattan Island was 
then covered. These wild fastnesses offered peculiar facilities for concealment, as 
their rocks and caves were almost unapproachable. The negroes, however, had no 
friends to whom they could fly for ultimate safety, and starvation brought them 
forth from their hiding-places. 

Some of these misguided persons committed suicide in the woods, using for that 
purpose the arms that they had brought with them. Others were taken and 
were brought to summary punishment in the most tormenting manner ; some by 
burning at the stake; others by being broken at the wheel ; others by being hung up 
alive. No leniency was shown to any who were known to have been any way cog- 
nizant of the plot. Self-preservation was felt to exist in putting the abject race in 
fear; thus extreme measures were resorted to without stint. 

The horrors of that event long dwelt as a cause of disquiet to the townspeople, 
and occasioned a morbid subject of household gossip, until the minds of the inhabit- 
ants became infected with one ever-existing apprehension — that of a negro plot. 
The influence of this state of feeling affected even the best classes of the population, 
so that in the course of a generation afterward, upon the happening of some sus- 
picion scircumstances, as to which the proof in the light of history appears entirely 
inadequate to sustain the grave accusations, hundreds of the negro race were 
visited with terrible punishment. 



COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 12 1 



BROOKLYN, 

A city, seaport, and capital of Kings County, N. Y., situated at the west end of 
Long- Island, on New York Bay and the East River, an arm of the sea which divides 
it from New York City and connects Long Island Sound with the Atlantic Ocean. 
Brooklyn is the third city of the Union in population. Its latitude (at the navy-yard) 
is 40° 51' 30" north; longitude, 73 59' 30" west from Greenwich. Its area is about 
14,000 acres, which is nearly 22 square miles. 

Population. — In 1698, Breuckelen had 509 inhabitants; in 1800, 3298; in 1810, 
4402; in 1820, 7545; in 1825,8800; in 1830, 15,292; in 1835,24,310; in 1840,36,233; 
in 1845, 59,574; in 1850, 96,850; in 1855, 205,250 ; in i860, 226,661 ; in 1865, 296,112; 
in 1S70, 396,350. In 1877 its popidation is estimated, on the basis of school censuses 
and directory returns, at 600,000. 

Commerce. — Brooklyn is a commercial port of great and constantly increas- 
ing importance. The city of New York, naturally desirous of concentrating on 
its own shores and at its own' docks, slips, and piers, its vast commerce so long 
as it could find room for it, discouraged all efforts for the erection of wharves, 
piers, docks, or warehouses on the Brooklyn side for many years. There had 
been a government navy-yard in the city limits since 1801, and it had ranked 
as first-class since 1824, but the commerce of the city had no existence be- 
yond a moderate coasting-trade prior to about 1844. In that year, the Atlantic 
Docks Company, incorporated in 1840, completed their first warehouse. This 
company, after passing through many discouragements, has now three miles of 
wharf accommodation, 40 acres of water-area, warehouse covering 20 acres, 
9 steam elevators, and every facility for shipping and storing cargoes. There 
have been in this dock at one time 130 sea-going vessels. The Erie Basin, south 
of this, has a water-area of 60 acres, and the Brooklyn Basin, still further south, 
a surface of 40 acres. Both are surrounded with warehouses, and are thoroughly 
equipped for accommodating shipping of the largest class. Since 1844, there has 
been invested in docks and warehouses a private capital of more than $125,000,000 
on the shore line of Brooklyn, which extends 8| miles, and has 25 miles of dockage, 
with vast warehouses, piers, slips, docks, and basins along the whole distance. The 
following statistics, gathered by careful examination in 1876, will give some idea of 
the extent of this commerce : In the warehouse of the Atlantic Dock Company, and 
others south therefrom to Red Hook Point, there is stored — grain, $26,000,000; sugar 
and molasses, $18,000,000; provisions, $3,300,000; flour, $1,700,000 ; lumber and stone, 
$1,800,000; cotton, $2,700,000; guano, $1,900,000; rags, $970,000; saltpetre and brim- 
stone, $220,000 ; salt, $700,000; iron, $4,000,000; miscellaneous, including resin, tur- 
pentine, etc., $11,000,000; in the section north from Atlantic Docks to South Ferry, 
$80,000,000. That which diverges to the Gowanus Canal, comprising coal, building 
and other material, valued at $6,000,000; from South to Fulton Ferry, $140,000,000; 
from Fulton Ferry to Main street, $27,000,000; making an aggregate to this point 
of over $309,000,000 annually stored. These figures seem enormous, but are borne 
out by facts. The warehouses from Red Hook to Main street are full of merchan- 
dise, and literally overflowing. A number of other large warehouses are now in 
process of erection. From Main street, north-east to the bridge over Newtown Creek, 
a distance of four miles, there is an extensive commerce. Many ship-yards, gas- 
works, lumber-yards, coal-yards, sugar refineries, and most of the vast petroleum 
refineries and shipping-houses, are on this part of the coast-line. The annual cora- 
16 



122 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

merce from this section, aside from the navy-yard, is somewhat more than $49,000,000. 
All through the year, with more or less activity, the business of loading and unload- 
ing vessels is going on. It is estimated that 2500 vessels are unloaded everv vear 
between Red Hook and Main street. In the business of warehousing alone some 
5000 men are engaged along the shore-line. Brooklyn is already the largest grain 
depot in the world. Immense steam elevators are employed to lift and deliver the 
grain. The stores of E. C. Lockwood & Co. have storage for 3,000,000 bushels at a 
time, employ 1000 hands, and pay to the city a tax of $50,000. The flour-mills of 
F. E. Smith & Co. deliver 1200 barrels a dav. During the receiving season, from 
October to December, canal-boats arrive by the hundred to be discharged. On the 
closing of navigation, as many as 600 canal-boats loaded with grain lie up for the 
winter in the basins, in many cases, with the captains and their families on board, 
until the cargoes can be sold. The value of the boats engaged in the grain-carrying 
trade is estimated at $18,000,000. The bulk of grain afloat seeking port frequently 
amounts to 5,000,000 -bushels at one time. 

Continuing the shore line from Main street to the navy-yard, and beyond to the 
north-eastern boundary, including the large interior dockage made by the Wallabout 
improvements, on the Newtown Creek, and at Gowanus Creek and Canal, it is appa- 
rent that the capacities of the city for extensive commerce can hardly be over-esti- 
mated. These are likely to be greatly aided by the removal of the obstacles at Hell 
Gate, at the confluence of the East River with the Sound. Five lines of steamships 
now ply between Brooklyn and their respective ports: the State line, to and from 
Glasgow; the North American line, to and from London, Newcastle, Christiania, 
and Bergen ; the South American line, with U. S. mail, to and from Rio and other 
ports; the White Cross line, to and from Antwerp; the Netherlands and Rotterdam 
line, to and from Rotterdam. The Brooklyn Eagle now gives daily reports of arri- 
vals and departures to and from this port. 

The census gives, as the true valuation of Kings County in 1870, $700,000,000. 
The valuation of the other towns of the county in 1873 was $11,626,043. The 
assessed valuation of 1872 was $207,952,332. 

Brooklyn has four daily papers, nine weeklies, and several monthlies, mostly 
advertising journals. There are, however, two monthly magazines, not very large 
circulation. The morning newspapers of New York City circulate almost as largely 
in Brooklyn as in New York, but the Brooklyn evening papers have a very large 
circulation. 

History. — Brooklyn was named from Breuckelen ("marshy land"), in the pro- 
vince of Utrecht in Holland, six miles from the city of Utrecht, from which some 
of its earliest settlers came. The first step toward its settlement was the purchase 
from the Indians in 1636, by Willem Arianse Bennet and Jaques Bentyn, of a tract 
of 630 acres, lying at Gowanus, between Twenty-seventh street and the New 
Utrecht line; the second step, the purchase by Joris (George) Jansen de Rapalje of 
325 acres at the Wallabout Bay, June 16th, 1637. 

At the time of the discovery of Long Island shores, in 1609, by Hendrik Hud- 
son, several tribes or settlements occupied Long Island, one of which was at Canar- 
sie, and another, the Mareckawick tribe, at Brooklyn, which, from the spot where 
they were located (sandy place or shore) at the Wallabout, gave the name Ma- 
reckawick to that locality. Brooklyn Heights, overlooking the East River, was called 
in the Indian dialect Ihpetonge (highlands). 

Families of these were at New Utrecht and Gowanus, in 1680, on the visit of 
the Labadists to those places in that year. The first ferry was established by license 



comley's history of the state of new york. 123 

in 1642, running from Peck Slip to a point near the present Fulton ferry, from 
this period named "The Ferry." There were at that time five hamlets— " The 
Ferry," " Breuckelen," near present Hoyt on Fulton street, where stood the church; 
"Gowanus," around Gowanus Bay; "Bedford," inland; and "the Wallabout," 
around Wallabout Bay. The first house known to have been built in Brooklyn was 
that of Willem Arianse Bennet, located on his purchase with Jaques Bentyn, from 
the Indians, prior to 1643, as in that year it was burnt by the Indians in the Indian 
wars, and replaced by the Schermerhorn House, on or near the same site ; and the 
second, probably that yet standing, and known as the De Hart or Bergen House, 
which was existing and visited by the Labadists in 1680, being then occupied by 
Simon Aertsen de Hart, grantee of Bennet. George Jansen de Rapalje did not 
come over from New Amsterdam to occupy his farm till about 1654. Later his- 
tory has entirely exploded the story that his daughter. Sarah Rapalje, was the 
first Christian born child in New Netherlands, and also that her birthplace was 
Brooklyn, at the Wallabout. The Labadist manuscript, published by the Long 
Island Historical Society, shows that this distinction of first birth in the colony pro- 
bably belongs to a male person, Jean Vigne, who was born in New Amsterdam in 
1 6 14, eleven years before the birth of Sarah, who was born in 1625. Besides, it is 
clear that Sarah, instead of being born at the Wallabout, as often asserted by early 
historians, was born in Albany (Fort Orange) in 1625, removed with her parents to 
New Amsterdam in 1626, lived there till after her marriage, between the age of 
fourteen and fifteen, was a church member in New York, and united with the 
Brooklyn church by certificate in 1661 ; was twice married in the Wallabout, gave 
birth to fourteen children, and died in 1685, age about sixty. There is no proof 
than any white person lived upon Long Island prior to 1636. Immediately upon 
the establishment of the ferry in 1642, grants of building lots at that point began, and 
that locality, as well as the other hamlets, increased. The union of all the hamlets 
into one incorporated jurisdiction named Breuckelen, took place in 1646, under 
Director-General Kieft. The Labadists, who crossed this ferry in September, 
1679. speak of it as " a considerable thoroughfare," and say, " A considerable number 
of Indians live upon Long Island, who gained their subsistence by hunting and 
fishing; and they, as well as others, must carry their articles to market over this 
ferry, or boat themselves over, as it is free to every one to use his own boat if he 
have one, or to hire one for the purpose. The fare over the ferry is three stuivers 
in German (less than half a cent English) for each person." 

In 1665, Breuckelen had attained the leading position among the towns in point 
of population and wealth, and was granted the privilege yearly of " a fayre and mar- 
ket near the ferry for all graine, cattle, or other produce of the country. ' W hat- 
ever the increase of population, it must have been very gradual, as (to skip a long 
period) the canvasser for the "New York and Brooklyn Directory" in 1796, passing 
up "the old road" (Fulton street), and down "New Ferry" (Main street), and 
through the intervening streets, gives but 125 names. The statistics of population, 
and the picture painted by Francis Guy of its condition up to 1820, also show that, 
up to this time, it held but the rank of an inconsiderable village, without insti- 
tutions, commerce, or manufactures. 

Over the space now occupied by Prospect Park, Washington Park, Greenwood 
Cemetery, Evergreen and Cypress Hills Cemeteries, was fought, on the 27th of Au- 
gust, 1776, the important battle which has been properly designated "the battle of 
Brooklyn," the first great battle of the Revolution after the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. The British armv was under the command of Lord Howe, the Hessians under 



124 COMLEY S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

General von Heister. Gen. Greene being ill, Gen. Putnam was in command of the 
American forces. The result is well known. An important pass was left unguarded 
in Howard's Hills, just beyond Bedford, by which the English troops gained the 
rear of the American army, and defeated it with heavy loss. Those who escaped 
within the lines were rescued by the masterly retreat effected by General Washing- 
ton on the 28th to New York, by means of boats, and under cover of a heavy fog, 
by which their movements were concealed. A memorable incident of this battle 
was the death of Gen. Nathaniel Woodhull, of Suffolk County, Long Island, while 
engaged on the 28th, the day after the battle, in driving the cattle eastward. He had 
entered the " Increased Carpenter house," two miles east of Jamaica. While there, 
a body of horsemen rode up, commanded by Captain Oliver de Lancey, who struck 
the general several times with his sword, and wounded him so severely that he died 
a few days after at New Utrecht, where he had been conveyed as a prisoner. 
The Brooklyn navy-yard was begun with the purchase, by the United States gov- 
ernment, of forty acres in 1801, which were converted into a navy-yard, and which 
was designated in 1824, by the secretary of the navy, as one of the first-class 
navy-yards of the nation. It has since added largely to its domain by other 
valuable purchases, upon which are placed the United States hospital, a dry dock, 
and costly buildings for the repair and construction of the largest vessels. 

The War of 1812. — On August 9th 181 4, the patriotic citizens of Brooklyn and 
the surrounding country flocked to Fort Greene, and aided in rehabilitating that old 
fortification and following out the line of earthworks across the island, conformably 
to the plans of Gen. Joseph G. Swift, after whom one of the forts which cornered 
on Atlantic street (the "Cobble Hill Fort" of 1776) was named "Fort Swift." 
Every preparation was made to meet the dangers to which New York was liable 
from her exposed situation by sea and land. By these precautions or otherwise, 
Brooklyn did not, as in the Revolution, bear the brunt of the first systematic 
strategic conflict. 

The Civil War of 1861-65. — In this emergency the city of Brooklyn was not 
exceeded by any other city in raising regiments and supplying material aid. Her 
Sanitary Fair of February 22d, 1864, was extraordinary as an effort of local unity and 
successful effort, the pecuniary realization reaching the magnificent sum of $402,- 
943.74. This was aptly characterized as the first great act of self-assertion ever 
made by the city of Brooklyn, and did much to bring her citizens together for other 
efforts. 

The village charter of Brooklyn is dated April 12th, 1816 ; the city charter was 
passed April 8th, 1834; the consolidation act uniting Williamsburg and Greenpoint 
with it passed April 17th, 1854, and took effect January 1st, 1855. 

The new charter was passed in 1873, and went into effect the same year. The 
institutions which have had the greatest influence upon the social organization and 
material progress of the city have been the Apprentices' Library and Graham Insti- 
tute (founded July 4th, 1825), the Academy of Music (open January 15th, 1861), the 
Mercantile Library Association, the Atlantic Docks, and the Long Island Historical 
Society. {/I /den J. Spooner, late Editor of " The Long Island Star.") 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA, 



COMPRISING 



THE LIVES AND RECORDS 



OF MANY OF 



The Leading Professional and Business Men of 

New York State. 

ARRANGED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER. 

WRITTEN AND COMPILED EXPRESSLY FOR 

COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 

AND 

ILLUSTRATED 



WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAIT-ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL AND STONE, FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN 
FROM LIFE, AND ENGRAVED BY OUR FIRST ARTISTS. 



NEW YORK: 

Comley Brothers, 767 and 769 Broadway. 
1877. 



BIOGRAPHIES. 



Biography is the most important feature of 
history, for the record of lives of individuals 
appears to be invested with more vitality and 
interest than the dry details of general historical 
narrative. In biography, the attention is not 
distracted by a multiplicity of leading and discon- 
nected events, but every incident that is related 
serves to illustrate the character of some eminent 
person, and is another light by which we can see 
more clearly the elements which form their being. 

The gentlemen whose biographies make so large 
a portion of the work have not been selected on 
account of their wealth, their social position, or 
their particular avocation, but from other and 
more worthy motives. In the number are em- 
braced the professions and most of the other call- 
ings of life, and they find a place in this book 
from the circumstance that they excel in their 
respective vocations, are men of sterling virtue, 
and in their efforts to establish position and for- 
tune they have given wealth, stamina, and char- 
acter to the State of New York. We have no 
favorites to support, no political or sectarian inte- 
rest to advance, but in choosing the subjects of 
these biographies have been guided by a sense 



of duty, and a wish to pay some tribute to well- 
deserved merit. 

Biographies of those who have become iden- 
tified with the progress of the great State — who 
have guided and directed its business currents 
year by year, swelling with the elements of pros- 
perity, and who have left the impress of their 
genius and judgment upon the legislative enact- 
ments of our State — must be sought after with avid- 
ity, and must be fraught with useful information. 

It will be a source of satisfaction to the reader 
to know that the biographies of individuals who 
adorn this work are not drawn by the flighty ima- 
gination from airy nothingless, but represent the 
lineaments of men, nearly all of whom are living, 
have achieved lofty positions, are still active in 
the busy, bustling world, and afford sterling 
examples of business excellence and moral and 
social virtues. 

In writing the lives of these men, the author has 
not attempted to swell facts beyond their proper 
magnitude, for the incidents which make up the 
biographies are of sufficient importance in them- 
selves to vest them with interest, without the 
adventitious aid of the imagination. 



Biographical Encyclopedia. 



Allen, Lewis F., of Buffalo, N. Y., de- 
scended from Pilgrim ancestry, who emigrated 
from England during the seventeenth century, 
and settled in the colony of Massachusetts. 
He was born at Westfield in that State, on 
the first day of January, 1800, and there re- 
ceived most of his early education. 

He came to Buffalo in April, 1827, and 
took charge of " The Western Insurance 
Company of the Village of Buffalo," as its 
secretary, in which he remained until the ex 
piration of its charter, about the year 1830. 
He then entered the office of "The Buffalo 
Fire and Marine Insurance Company," re- 
cently incorporated by the State legislature, 
as its first secretary, about the year 1831, 
and had the principal charge of its affairs 
for nearly or quite three years. 

Becoming interested in real estate opera- 
tions soon after coming to Buffalo, in connec- 
tion with Col. Ira A. Blossom, then agent for 
the Holland Land Company at its Buffalo 
office, they erected, in 1830-31 and 1832, 
several of the largest blocks of brick stores, 
warehouses, and dwellings on Main and 
other streets, which then existed in the vil- 
lage. 

In the year 1833-4, in conjunction with a 
few capitalists in Boston, Mass., they pur- 
chased about 16,000 acres of land on Grand 
Island, in the Niagara River, then a dense 



forest, and built a large steam saw-mill for 
working up the extensive growths of white 
oak and other timbers with which the soil 
was clothed; and sent considerable quantities 
of it, for ship-building purposes, through the 
Erie Canal to New York and Boston — the 
first timber of the kind ever transported 
from the Western part of the State, and of 
such superior quality as to stand for many 
years at the head of the market quotations, 
as " Grand Island white oak." The timber 
finally becoming exhausted, the land, fertile 
in quality, was sold out in farms, and soon 
afterward became incorporated into a town 
under its original name, and is now populat- 
ed by a substantial body of farmers ; with two 
commodious steam-ferries, one near the south 
end or head of the island, and the other op- 
posite Tonawanda, connecting with the 
main shore. A portion of the lower or 
northerly end of the island is celebrated for 
its valuable and productive apple, peach, and 
other fruit orchards. 

This island, soon after its survey into farm-lots 
by its then proprietor, the State of New York, 
was selected as the proposed foundation for a 
Jewish colony, in the year 1825, though the 
scheme fell through and was abandoned. 

In the year 1836, Mr. Allen became asso- 
ciated with several prominent business men 
in Buffalo and elsewhere, in purchasing and 



332 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[All — A me 



developing a large portion of the lands in the 
village of Black Rock, immediately adjoining 
the northerly side of the city, fronting the 
Niagara River. Its streets and extensive water- 
power were soon afterward thoroughly 
planned, and several large flouring-mills 
and other valuable manufacturing establish- 
ments have been since erected. Its territory 
is now incorporated with the city, and become 
an important part of its industries. In these 
developments, Col. William A. Bird, also an 
extensive land proprietor there, and other 
citizens, have been large and influential 
participators. 

Possessing a decided taste for agricultural 
improvement and the finer breeds of farm 
stock, Mr. Allen has devoted much attention 
to those interests at his farm on Grand Island. 
He was one of the founders of the State Ag- 
ricultural Society, in the year 1841, and its 
President in 1848. In the year 1838, he was 
a member of the State Legislature for the 
county of Erie. 

In the year 1846, he founded and edited 
the "American Short-Horn Herd-Book," 
since continued through sixteen large octavo 
volumes, now annually issued, of about 1000 
pages each, comprising altogether more than 
70,000 pedigrees of that noble race of cattle, 
the most numerous and valuable of all " im- 
proved " breeds in the United States. 

In several of the useful institutions and 
associations of the city, he has also been 
associated with their founders and managers 
down to the present time. 

Allen, Orlando, was born in New Hart- 
ford, Oneida Co., N. Y., in 1803, and came 
to this city in 18 18, and proved himself to be 
one of the most useful and enterprising citi- 
zens of Buffalo. He was widely known 
throughout the western portion of New York 



State as a man of uncommon talent. In 
many prominent public positions he displayed 
great executive ability, rare industry, and in- 
flexible integrity. He made an admirable 
Mayor of the city in 1848, and his discharge 
of the responsible duties of the station won 
the approbation of all classes. He was for 
three years member of Assembly. The all- 
important lake and canal commerce was 
especially cared for and materially advanced 
j by him. He was also for several years mem- 
ber of the Board of Supervisors, and twice 
chairman of the board. He was also Alder- 
man from the twenty-second ward, Trustee of 
the Western Savings Bank, Chairman of the 
Building Committee which superintended and 
controlled the erection of the splendid edifice 
on the corner of Main and Court streets, 
Trustee of the Insane Asylum. Board. As 
President of the Buffalo Historical Society, he 
displayed his characteristic ability and public 
spirit. Indeed, in all the stations which he 
ever filled, Orlando Allen proved himself fully 
equal to their responsibilities and require- 
ments. Deceased was a member of the First 
Presbyterian church for upward of forty- 
eight years. He died Sept. 4th, 1874, much 
respected by all who knew him. 

Ames, Leonard. — The subject of this 
sketch was born February 8th, 18 18, at 
Mexico, Oswego County, N. Y., and was the 

j tenth child of a family of thirteen. His par- 
ents moved to Oswego County in 1804, from 
Litchfield, Ct. Mr. Ames's early life con- 
sisted of being raised on the farm. At the age 
of twenty-three he commenced life himself 

' by purchasing 150 acres of land, well stocked 

! with cows. He soon became tired of farming. 
Being ambitious to attain business and social 
position, he sold his farm and commenced a 

J small manufacturing business. Shortly after 





Ccm^^^C^ /^ 






^/<y~^_ 



COMLEY BROS.NEWTOEK. 



Ams| 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



339 



this, he went into beef and pork packing at 
Syracuse, N. Y., and Delphi, Ind., which he 
continued nine or ten years; when he sold 
out, returned to his native village, and com- 
menced a private banking establishment. He 
has held several positions of trust and honor; 
among them we may mention supervisor of 
the town of Syracuse. In 1857 he was a 
member of the State Assembly. He was also 
delegate to the National Convention held in 
Chicago, that nominated Abraham Lincoln. 
He afterward received the appointment of 
United States Assessor for the Twenty-second 
Congressional District, having twenty-two as- 
sistants. This position he occupied until re- 
moved by Andrew Johnson, for political 
reasons. In 1864, he started the Second 
National Bank of Oswego, was its first and 
only President. In 1870, he purchased one 
half interest in the Ames Iron-Works, which 
he still retains, operating the works success- 
fully, and turning out annually 200 to 300 
engines. He is just in the prime of active 
manhood, eminent for his public enterprise, 
and popular with all classes of citizens. 

Amsdell Brothers— George I. and 
Theodore M. They who have reaped a 
plenteous harvest in the fields where they 
have labored, and have won honorable names 
in the community where they have resided, 
well deserve an honorable record in the his- 
tory of their native State, and the events of 
their lives furnish a useful lesson to posterity. 
The subjects of this sketch are George I. and 
Theodore M. Amsdell. The former was 
born at Kinderhook, N. Y., and the latter at 
Troy. Their father, William Amsdell, was 
born in the county of Cambridge, England, 
and belonged to the honest yeomanry of that 
country, who brought up his children to 
habits of industry, and early instilled into 



them the love and practice of moral attri- 
butes. Their mother, Abigail Millard, was 
born in 1803, in Ulster County, N. Y., and 
could trace her ancestry back to the Pil- 
grims, who landed at Plymouth Rock, on 
the May Flower. They gave their children 
a practical education, and then set them to 
work at suitable business. The subjects of 
this sketch moved to Albany when quite 
young, and, in 1845. entered their father's 
brewery, learning from him all that was prac- 
tical in this important branch of industry, 
and in which he had served a lifetime. In 
1 85 1, they went into business for themselves, 
taking their father's brewery, then a diminu- 
tive concern, and no more like their present 
structure than a pigmy is like a giant. In 
1856, they commenced building their present 
premises, which now cover an area of 350 
feet each on Jay and Lancaster streets, by 
150 on Dove street. The main building is 
five stories high, fitted up with all the mod- 
ern improvements for turning out the best 
material at the minimum of cost. The 
capacity of this colossal establishment is 200 
barrels of ale per diem, and 125,000 bushels 
of malt per annum. Their ales have become 
such general favorites that they supply an enor- 
mous trade all along the Hudson River, and 
the country tributary to it ; and in New York 
City they have a large distributing depot, 
from which they serve their products to their 
numerous customers in the city. The great 
reputation their establishment has made has 
been due to the fact that up till 1870, Mr. 
! George I. Amsdell personally superintend- 
ed the malting, and Theodore M. per- 
sonally did the brewing for the whole estab- 
lishment. This, together with the location ; 
for there is none better in the State than 
Albany for brewing ale, it being the great 
central mart for barley and hops raised in the 



340 



BIOGRAPHICAL EXCYCLOP.EDIA. 



[Arm 



west, which, by the way of the Erie Canal, 
are brought to market at a cheaper rate than 
they could be by any other conveyance. 
The water, too, which is used, is particularly 
adapted by its purity and softness for making 
the best ales. Albany may well feel proud 
of her enterprising citizens, and especially of 
such men as George I. and Theodore M. 
Amsdell, who, by the erection and working 
of their immense brewery and malt-house, 
give employment to a large number of men, 
and indirectly add largely to the value of 
the agricultural portion of the State. Be- 
sides attending to the daily duties im- 
posed by this large concern, and its busi- 
ness details, George I. Amsdell has for 
four years represented the Ninth Ward 
in the aldermanic board, and is also a 
director in the Capitol City Insurance Com- 
pany. Theodore M. Amsdell is a director 
in the Albany Horse Railroad Company, and 
the Brewers and Maltsters' Insurance Com- 
pany, also one of the Governors in the Al- 
bany City Hospital ; positions they have both 
served with marked distinction and fidelity. 
George I. Amsdell was married September 
5th, 1847, to Miss Esther J. White, of Albany, 
by whom he has had six children, five still 
living. 

Theodore M. Amsdell was joined in wed- 
lock in 1855, to Miss Ella E. Zeh, also of 
Albany ; of this marriage five children have 
been born to them, only one of whom sur- 
vives. The business capacity of the Ams- 
dell Brothers is second to none. They have 
combined judgment that never errs in its cal- 
culation and an industry that is untiring in 
its pursuit of business. They commenced in 
the world without the gifts of fortune or the 
aid of auspicious patronage, but made their 
way to wealth and influence by their own 
efforts, and are indebted to no extraneous 



aid for their possessions. They are retiring 
in disposition, domestic in habits, warm in 
each other's friendship, and pass life chiefly in 
giving attention to their business, and in the 
serene enjoyments which nestle around their 
family hearthstones. They have also exten- 
sive and valuable libraries, embracing the 
standard works on science, history, and let- 
ters, with all of which they are familiar, and 
devote much of their leisure time in arduous 
study to keep pace with the rapid advance 
made by the intelligent investigations of 
modern science, which knowledge they have 
a ready aptitude to apply in the improve- 
ment of their already excellent product. 

Armstrong, E. B. — A man who, from 
a humble position and by his own efforts, has 
risen to affluence and social position, and 
through all the events of a checkered life 
has preserved his integrity unimpeached, 
well deserves the pen of the historian and to 
be held up as a model to posterity. E. B. 
Armstrong was born in the town of Lee, 
Oneida County, January 10th, 1809. His 
father, Oliver Armstrong, moved to that 
locality previous to 1800. The subject of 
this sketch attended the school of his native 
town till eighteen years of age, after which 
he attended the private school of Oliver C. 
Grosvener for nearly one year. His educa- 
tion finished, he entered the store of his 
brother, General J. Armstrong, as clerk, and 
after two or three years of strict business 
training, during which time he proved him- 
self to be the possessor of excellent business 
qualities, he became a partner in the business, 
the firm continuing until his brother's death, 
which occurred in August, 1852. His 
brother's place was filled by young members 
of the family for some time ; finally he be- 
came sole proprietor, remaining so till 1870, 



Arn— AST] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



341 



when he virtually retired from active busi- 
ness duties. Since that time he has found 
his time well employed looking after his own 
private affairs, and in the management of his 
estate, which is very extensive, and in- 
cludes large interests in the manufacture of 
iron. He has been engaged in the manu- 
facture of pig iron, more or less, for over 
thirty-five years, and at one time was man- 
ager of the Talberg Furnace. During the 
past twelve years, he has been a Director in 
the Franklin Iron-Works. He is also Vice- 
President and Director of the Rome Iron- 
Works, with a capital of $400,000 ; and Presi- 
dent of the Rome Merchants' Iron Mill, capi- 
tal $150,000. Mr. Armstrong is also a Di- 
rector of the Fort Stanwix and Central Na- 
tional Banks. 

He was joined in wedlock in 1837 to a 
daughter of Henry Tibbets, Esq., an old 
resident of Rome, by whom he had four 
children; none of them, however, are 
living. 

Mr. Armstrong has always been thorough- 
ly identified with the interests of Rome and 
Oneida County, being a large real estate 
holder and the owner of many valuable farms 
in the county. He is to-day, with one or 
two exceptions, the oldest " Roman of them 
all," and has gained his position and in- 
fluence by personal exertion, proving himself 
to be an indefatigable worker. 

A history of Mr. Armstrong's life is useful 
for its practical instruction. He has amassed 
a fortune that would content the extravagant 
requirements of royalty. Yet he has never 
risked a dollar in the precarious investment 
of wild speculation, but day by day added to 
his little commencement. Attending wholly 
to his own business, he has become honored 
for his integrity and known as one of the 
most influential citizens of Oneida County. 



Arnot, John, was born in Doune, Scot- 
land, September 25th, 1793. When he was 
eight or ten years of age, his family came to 
this country and settled in Albany, where they 
resided for a short time, and then moved to 
Catskill on the Hudson. Subsequently they 
moved back to Albany, where Mr. Arnot en- 
gaged in mercantile pursuits on a small scale. 
In company with Egbert Egbert, Mr. Arnot 
moved to Elmira, N. Y., and opened his first 
stock of goods in a store located on Water 
street. He continued in business at this 
point ten or eleven years, and was very suc- 
cessful. In 1824, he was married to Miss 
Harriet, daughter of Stephen Tuttle. In 
1830, Mr. Arnot built the brick block on the 
corner of Water and Lake streets, which was 
the first brick store built in Elmira. In 1829, 
he built the old foundry on the site of the 
Opera- House block. In 1833, the Chemung 
Canal Bank was organized, and he became 
stockholder. In 1842, he became cashier of 
the bank. In 1843, ne became president, 
and held the position until his death, which 
occurred November 17th, 1873. In 1854, 
he took an active part in the construction of 
the Junction Canal, and became its presi- 
dent. In 1862, he became largely interested 
in mining. He was one of the projectors of 
the Chemung Railroad. He was a man of 
marvellous business sagacity and persever- 
ance. For honesty and integrity he had no 
superior. Mr. Arnot was very benevolent, but 
it was unaccompanied by ostentation or dis- 
play. He was universally loved and respect- 
ed, and mourned by all classes of citizens ; 
and during his life did more to further the 
interests of his beautiful town than any other 
of its citizens. 

Astor, John Jacob. — Born at Waldorf, 
near Heidelberg, in Germany, July 17th, 



342 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



|_Aus 



1763, emigrated to the United States in 1783, 
and invested his capital in furs, which he took 
to London and sold with much profit. He 
next settled at New York, and engaged ex- 
tensively in the fur trade. He exported furs 
to Europe in his own vessels, which returned 
with cargoes of foreign commodities, and 
thus rapidly amassed a large fortune. In 
181 1, he founded Astoria on the western 
coast of North America, near the mouth of 
the Columbia, as a depot for the fur trade, 
for the promotion of which he sent two ex- 
peditions to the Pacific Ocean. He was re- 
markable for his sagacity and diligence in 
business. He purchased in New York a 
large amount of real estate, the value of 
which increased enormously. At his death 
(March 29th, 1848), his fortune was esti- 
mated at $20,000,000. He left $400,000 to 
found a public library in New York. 

Austin, Stephen Goodwin, was bom 

at Suffield, in the State of Connecticut, on the 
28th day of October, a.d. 1791. His father 
was Joseph Austin, Esq., of Suffield, and his 
mother was Sarah, daughter of Capt. Good- 
win, of Goshen, in the same State. 

Stephen G. was the youngest of three sons. 
His studies preparatory to entering college 
were pursued at the academy in Westfield, 
Mass. In 181 1, he entered as freshman at 
Yale College, and, completing the full regular 
course of studies, graduated with honor on 
the 13th day of September, 18 15, under the 
presidency of Dr. D wight. 

Immediately after graduating, Mr. Austin 
entered upon the study of the law in the office 
and under the guidance of Daniel W. Lewis, 
in Geneva, N. Y., and remained there until 
fully prepared for practice; and on the 15th 
of January, a.d. 1819, he received at the 
hands of Hon. Ambrose Spencer, at that time 



Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
State of New York, his license to practise in 
that court. He remained in Geneva but a 
short time after his admission. During the 
year 18 19, he removed to Buffalo, N. Y., and 
entered upon the practice of his profession. 

His license to practise in the Court of Chan- 
cery for the State of New York is dated 
February 22d, 1822. Kent, Chancellor. 

Mr. Austin established himself at Buffalo at 
a time when there were great and exciting 
public questions under consideration and dis- 
cussion in regard to the welfare of the town, 
and it became evident to observing men that 
the then village held in its position all the 
elements of a great and thriving city. The 
subject of this notice was not slow to perceive 
the bearing of these questions and the advan- 
tages of the location, and never from that time 
wavered in his determination to make Buffalo, 
as it ever after was, his home. 

He held for a time the office of justice of 
the peace, the duties of which his studies had 
fitted him to perform with ability ; but in after- 
life he steadily declined public office, although 
often solicited to permit his name to be used 
in candidacy for high and responsible posi- 
tions. 

On the 1st day of October, 1829, Mr. Austin 
was married, at Middle Haddam, Ct., to Miss 
Lavinia, daughter of Jesse Hurd, Esq., of 
that place. 

In 1831, the degree of Master of Arts was 
received by him from his Alma Mater. 

Mr. Austin was a man of quick perception 
and acute intellect. As a man of business his 
judgment was sound, and as a lawyer his opin- 
ions were based on the closest analysis of the 
principles of law as applicable to the case in 
hand. He was in no sense a " case lawyer," 
although not averse to strengthening a cause 
by decisions in point. 



Bar] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



347 



These traits, supplemented by unwavering 
industry and untiring pertinacity, rendered 
him a formidable opponent in his profession, 
and secured for him the rewards of success as 
a lawyer; and later in life, the same charac- 
teristics enabled him to conduct his business 
operations and shape his investments to the 
best advantage and with ultimate success. 

Exemplary in his character, conversation, 
and deportment as a gentleman, faithful to all 
trusts as a citizen and a patriot, kind and gen- 
erous in his relations as husband and father, 
true to his family, his friends, and to society, 
prompt and practical in all business affairs, of 
unimpeachable integrity and sound judgment, 
Mr. Austin lived a laborious, useful, and ear- 
nest life, and on the 19th of June, a.d. 1872, 
died a peaceful death at a ripe age, with judg- 
ment, memory, and all his faculties not only 
not in the least impaired, but growing more 
and more perfect. 

Babcock, Hon. George R., was 

born in Gorham, Ontario County, N. Y., 
on the 20th day of September, 1806; 
and his education was such only as 
the common schools afforded him. He 
taught school for a time, and came to Buf- 
falo in 1824. Shortly after arriving here, he 
entered the law office of the late Heman B. 
Potter, where he prosecuted his studies until 
admitted to the bar, when he entered into 
partnership with General Potter. For some 
time the firm name was Potter & Babcock; 
but by the admission of E. G. Spaulding into 
the firm in 1836, it became and continued 
for several years the firm of Potter, Babcock 
& Spaulding. In 1835, M r - Babcock was 
married to Miss Mary B., daughter of General 
Potter, who bore him two children : Emily, 
the wife of D. R. Alward, of Auburn, and Dr. 
H. P. Babcock, now residing in Oakland, 



Cal. Both mother and children survive 
him. About 1 841, he was appointed by Gov- 
ernor Seward Supreme Court Commissioner, 
which office he held for several years. In 
1842, he was in partnership with Hon. James 
O. Putnam, the firm name being Babcock & 
Putnam, and his subsequent partnerships prior 
to the last were with the late Thomas C. 
Welch, Esq., and E. C. Sprague, Esq. Al- 
though not in active practice, his partnership 
relations for some years past have been with 
Mark B. Moore, Esq. He was elected Mem- 
ber of Assembly in 1845; m I &5° ne wa s 
elected to the State Senate, and in 1852 he 
was re-elected, serving two terms with dis- 
tinguished ability. In the winter of 1875-76, 
he was appointed a member of the Commis- 
sion whose duties he was giving his attention 
to when taken with his final illness. He was 
a member of the First Presbyterian church 
for forty years, and at the time of his death 
was the oldest member of the Bar of Erie 
County. 

We have thus sketched in merest outline 
the career of one of the most remarkable men 
Buffalo has ever been able to boast of — a man 
altogether more remarkable for what the gen- 
eral public did not know of him than for what 
was outwardly manifest in his daily life and 
conversation ; and the sacred duty of present- 
ing to the world an analysis of his character 
must remain to some of those who knew him 
most intimately, and who loved him sincerely 
for the strength and profundity of his intellect 
and the depth and beauty of his heart. He 
was a man of great ability. His mind was 
not of the brilliant, flashy order, but was 
broad, serene, and sound to the core. En- 
dowed with rare common sense, remarkable 
powers of observation, a prodigious memory, 
great reasoning powers, and an instinctive 
idea of the right in all cases, he was always 



348 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[Bac 



thoroughly reliable in counsel, always singu- 
larly exact in his history of a law case, a per- 
son, or a locality; and a wonderfully honest, 
direct, and accurate thinker. He knew the 
history of Buffalo better than any other man, 
and his knowledge of men here and elsewhere 
in the country was simply astonishing. He 
was a veritable encyclopaedia, with never a 
hint of pedantry or superior knowledge in his 
intercourse with men. While severely close 
in his reasoning and eminently practical in all 
things, his mind had a most agreeable flexi- 
bility, and those who were privileged to draw 
upon his intellectual resources found him well 
read and wise beyond most men of the age. 
He was in no sense a superficial man ; he 
must be master of any particular subject with 
which he assumed to deal, or he would ex- 
press no opinion about it. He was tempera- 
mentally the victim of inertia ; he was modest 
and unobtrusive almost to the last degree, and 
self-assertion was an attribute entirely foreign 
to his nature. Apparently stiff and cold in 
his manner, wanting in ambition, caring only 
for the appreciation of a few friends, he was 
not, in the generally accepted sense, a public 
man, and never would have made a politi- 
cian; but he was the idol of those who knew 
him for the wealth and honesty of his mind 
and the simplicity and purity of his life. He 
was a lover of any thing that was genuine, 
whether it was a man or a book, but he had no 
sympathy with any thing that wanted honesty. 
He was a conservative ; he believed in the 
ancient ways; he rode his hobbies, and never 
gave his assent to any thing that he did not 
consider right. He was deliberate and 
methodical, and although he worked slowly, 
his work was faultlessly complete when it re- 
ceived the last touch at his hand. An able 
lawyer, in whose hands for many years large 
and important trusts have rested, a profound i 



scholar, a benevolent, undemonstrative gen- 
tleman, a loyal, self-sacrificing friend, and an 
honorable citizen departed from among us 
when George R. Babcock died. 

Bacon, Jared G., was born near Fort 
Ann, Washington County, September 6th, 
1805. He first embarked in business with his 
brother in Buffalo in 1822, where he remained 
for several years. Subsequently he moved to 
Albany, and in 1829 to Troy, where he was 
one of our pioneer collar manufacturers, and 
notwithstanding the fact that it was before the 
invention of sewing-machines. At one time 
he had in his employ a great number of hands 
in the manufacture of shirts alone. He was 
one of the founders of the State National 
Bank, and was also prominently connected 
with the old Commercial Bank of this city. 
In the year 1854, he started in the lumber 
business with the late Lorenzo D. Baker, and 
continued in the same up to the time of the 
great fire in 1854, which destroyed their yard. 
A short time afterward he engaged in the 
insurance business, and was one of the first 
representatives appointed in this country by 
the Liverpool and London Fire and Life In- 
surance Company. He remained in the in- 
surance business up to the time of his death, 
which occurred December 18th, 1872, and was 
one of the most successful underwriters in this 
section of the State. His wife, who was the 
daughter of Mr. Leavens, a wealthy farmer of 
Grant's Junction, died a few years ago. He 
leaves a son, Jared L., who was associated 
with him, and now conducts the business, to- 
gether with W. J. Kelly, under the old firm 
style of J. G. Bacon & Son. 

Troy could ill afford to lose such a man as 
Jared G. Bacon. He was missed both in 
social circles and in the banking house. He 
had always taken a decided interest in the 





's^Z^f <&&2^ 



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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



353 



welfare of their city, and was blessed with 
what always ennobles its possessor, a gener- 
ous heart. His absence caused a void which 
will not soon be filled. His demise was uni- 
versally mourned, for he was a man of many 
friends. 

Barnum, Stephen Ostrom, was born 
at Utica, Oneida County, N. Y., Jan- 
uary 14th, 1816, and is a son of Ezra S. 
Barnum, formerly of Danbury, Ct., now of 
Utica, N. Y., and who is about the oldest 
living inhabitant of that place. He was in 
the United States army, and present at the 
taking of Fort Erie in the old war of 18x2. 
The Barnum family in this country, from in- 
formation given us by Mrs. David Barnum, 
of Baltimore, Md., sprang from three brothers, 
who emigrated from England long before the 
Revolution. One settled in Massachusetts, 
one in Vermont, and the ancestor of the sub- 
ject of this sketch settled at Danbury, Ct. 
The original family in England was named 
Van Barnum, the Massachusetts branch 
adopting the name of Varnum. 

Mr. S. O. Barnum in his early days 
entered the Utica post-office as clerk, then 
afterward accepted the position of discount 
clerk in the Oneida Bank. This sedentary 
life not agreeing with his health, he entered 
into co-partnership with his father in the 
fancy goods business, and finally struck out 
for himself, and removed to Buffalo, N. Y., in 
1845, and opened a variety store on a very 
limited scale in a small wooden building on 
the same spot now owned and occupied by 
him. He at first met many discouragements 
from lack of capital and being an entire 
stranger ; but he had experience and deter- 
mination, which finally succeeded, and after 
gradual progress, he can now boast of one of 
the largest variety stores extant, and his 



reputation is as broad as the country. He is 
still active, attending to his business duties 
daily, and in the full tide of success. 

Beams, James S., was bom in the 
city of New York, August 28th, 1816. 
His father, Capt. Henry Beams, came from 
Holland in the early part of the present cen- 
tury, and was for about twenty-five years cap- 
tain of a merchant-vessel plying mostly be- 
tween New York port and Ireland. 

The subject of this sketch received a good 
academic education in the city of his birth. 
When seventeen, he engaged himself to 
Thomas Morrell, wholesale grocer, with 
whom he remained eleven years. In Jan- 
uary, 1845, on account of failing health, he 
was compelled to resign his position and go 
South. During the long course of his busi- 
ness connection with Mr. Morrell, he, by his 
energy and business tact, had so gained the 
esteem of his employer that the last year of 
his connection with him he was given an in- 
terest in the business as a reward for fidelity 
to his trust. After remaining South several 
months, he had so far recovered his health 
that he returned to New York, and, in com- 
pany with John F. Fisher, commenced the 
wholesale grocery business, the firm style 
being James S. Beams & Co. It continued 
as such until 1853, at which time Mr. B. 
bought his partner's interest, and continued 
alone until 1866. At this time he admitted 
his nephew, Joseph H. Beams, into the firm, 
and it resumed the old style of James S. 
Beams & Co. In 1874, Mr. James S. Beams, 
determined to retire from the cares of busi- 
ness life, sold his interest to his nephew, who 
still continues the business. In 1848, he 
moved his residence to Brooklyn, N. Y., 
which he has since made his permanent 
home, becoming thoroughly identified with 



354 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Bel— Ben 



her interests and institutions. In i860, on 
the organization of the Kings County Sav- 
ings Institution, he became its secretary, a 
position he filled with credit and ability 
till March, 1865, when he was elected its 
president, in which capacity he still serves, 
having declined any compensation for his ser- 
vices. On the istof June, 1854, Mr. Beams 
was joined in wedlock to Miss Elizabeth 
J., daughter of Thomas Cosgrove, Esq., of 
New York City, by whom he has had five 
children, two sons and three daughters, all 
of whom survive. In his manners he is affa- 
ble and genial, and his disposition frank and 
generous. In business matters he has always 
been prompt and attentive, and has made it a 
principle through life never to break his 
word when once given ; and to these traits 
of character, together with unswerving integ- 
rity and honorable dealings, does he owe his 
success through life. 

Belden, J. J. — This subject was born in 
September, 1825, at Fabius, Onondaga Coun- 
ty, N. Y., where he resided until eighteen years 
old, receiving a common school education. In 
the humble capacity of clerk was his first ex- 
perience in the affairs and tides of business. 
Being ambitious of distinction and notoriety, 
which he found impossible to attain in the 
country home, he in 1853 moved to Syracuse, 
and boldly entered into the noble calling of 
contractor, which has made his name so 
famous in the Empire State. The success 
that has, in a measure, attended his exertions 
and shrewd management are apodictical to 
all; for there are probably few among our 
readers who do not know this gentleman by 
reputation and his connection with several 
large public contracts. Like the famous 
Murphy, he has been a leading mover in the 
temperance cause. In the spring of 1877, he 



was elected Mayor of Syracuse, which must 
have been very gratifying to him after the 
little annoyances he was put to by some of the 
State dignitaries, who attempted to seize his 
property, including his palatial mansion, famil- 
iarly known as the " State House," for his 
alleged connection with the great Canal Ring 
frauds, by which the State was . swindled out 
of hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

In 1853, he was married to Miss Anna Gere, 
daughter of Robert Gere, of Syracuse. 

We intended to present with this sketch 
a steel portrait of J. J. Belden, and had the 
promise of a photograph from that gentleman, 
though something caused him to suddenly 
change his mind — probably his extreme mod- 
esty. He holds several prominent positions 
in Syracuse banks and railroads, and continues 
to conduct the business of contracting on a 
large scale. 

Benjamin, Simeon, was born in the 
town of Riverhead, in what was called Upper 
Aquebogue, Long Island, May 29th, 1792. 
His father was a plain substantial farmer, 
highly respected, and an earnest, active Chris- 
tian. 

Simeon Benjamin was the third son in a 
family of six sons and two daughters. He 
was accounted rather of feeble physical con- 
stitution and was allowed some special ad- 
vantages for an education, which in those 
days consisted chiefly of extra time from farm- 
work for attending district-school, and an 
early initiation into a clerkship in a plain 
country store in his native town, which remains 
and is kept as a store at the present time. At 
the early age of sixteen, he came to the city 
of New York, and was a clerk in the store ot 
Mr. Kipp, in Broadway. 

After about two years of city experience, he 
returned to his native town — Upper A que- 



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Ml 








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EXH 






Bex] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



357 



bogue, and went into business for himself. 
This was in 1812, just at the beginning of the 
war. 

This was the beginning of his success as a 
business man. His favorable location and 
the favor of a kind Providence centred at 
his store the trade of an extensive section. It 
was also greatly in his favor that other portions 
of Long Island found their trade greatly dis- 
turbed by the British cruisers, who intercepted 
the goods on their way from New York. This 
rendered prices and the demand such that the 
young merchant soon found himself with a 
handsome capital, and few men have ever 
been more intelligently and successfully cau- 
tious in preventing losses. Like the sea- 
faring men of his native town, he could not 
endure a leaky ship, nor would he abide a 
losing business, even if the loss seemed small. 
It was a business crime in his eyes to have 
the income fall short of the expenses and out- 
lay for a single year. 

After a few years, he gathered up his capital 
and went to the city of New York. With 
long-practised economy and caution, willing 
to avoid ostentation, having no taste for hasty, 
perilous speculation, he steadily and surely 
added to his wealth and enlarged his business 
only as fast as actual gains and the soundest 
credit would allow. In this he was slowly 
but surely successful. 

Passing over the subsequent period of his 
business history in New York City, in which 
lie trained several clerks who have since be- 
come very distinguished business men, we next 
find him investing a considerable portion of his 
amassed capital in Elmira, with a sagacious 
forecast of the future growth of that place. 
He moved to that place in the spring of 1835, 
and purchased considerable real estate. The 
bulk of his large fortune was derived from the 
rising value of his village property, the erection 



of buildings, and the constant growth of im- 
provements. His early habits of caution and 
watchfulness against all losses, small as well as 
great, still characterized him. Both a sound 
and honorable policy, and the dictates of a 
generous public spirit, led him to take a deep 
and liberal interest in public improvements, 
in building churches, school-houses, hotels, 
and especially in connecting Elmira with Se- 
neca Lake by railroad. He was the first 
President of the Chemung Railroad, and per- 
haps it is not too much to say that he was its 
chief manager, and its success was chiefly 
owing to him. He was also somewhat largely 
engaged in banking, for which his peculiar 
style of business in some respects eminently 
fitted him. 

He was the son of pious parents and had 
the covenant blessing of a godly ancestry. 
He was first a communicant in the church at 
Aquebogue. In the city of New York, he 
united with the Presbyterian church in Van- 
dewater street, then under the ministry of the 
too celebrated Hooper Cummings. 

He resided for a time in Newtown, Long 
Island, where he was an elder in the church 
of Rev. John Goldsmith, who was an uncle to 
Mrs. Benjamin. His next church relation was 
with the first Presbyterian church of Brooklyn, 
under Mr. John Sanford, and afterward Dr. 
Carroll. 

From Brooklyn he came to Elmira in 1835. 
The next year he was chosen trustee of the 
First Presbyterian church, and continued by 
re-election to hold that office until his death, 
which occurred September 1st, 1868. In 
November, 1836, he was elected an elder, 
and was always an efficient member of the 
session — able in counsel and fully identified 
with the prosperity and progress of the 
church. 

He began early a system of beneficence 



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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[Ben— Bil 



but he never gave ostentatiously. Probably 
no man in Southern New York has, during 
the past thirty-five years, given so large an 
amount to religious, charitable, and educa- 
tional objects, even besides his large gifts to 
the College. He was for many years a 
trustee of Auburn Theological Seminary. He 
was also for a number of years a trustee of 
Hamilton College. To both these institutions 
he made liberal donations, and freely ex- 
pressed the intentions of making some further 
addition by bequests. For more than ten 
years he was a corporate member of the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions, and took a deep but quiet interest 
in the great missionary work. 

But the last and crowning object of his 
Christian liberality was the Flmira Female 
College, a fine view of which we give. 

From the first he was the financial manager, 
as Treasurer and President of the Board of 
Trustees. His donation of $5000, the largest 
amount then subscribed by any one, fixed the 
location, changing it from Auburn, where it 
had been located, and for which a charter had 
been granted as the Auburn Female Univer- 
sity. By act of the Legislature the charter 
was amended, the name changed, and the in- 
stitution removed to Elmira. 

The college opened with a debt of nearly 
forty thousand dollars, more than half of 
which was owed to Mr. Benjamin himself, 
and a considerable portion of the remainder 
to personal friends in New York and on Long 
Island. 

After a few years, Mr. Benjamin proposed 
to give to the college $25,000, by releasing 
so much of the amount due him, on condition 
that the college be placed under the super- 
vision of the Synod of Geneva, with the pro- 
vision that the evangelical denominations be 
represented in the Board, and also with the 



condition that the interest of the sum so re- 
leased should be every year paid into an en- 
dowment fund, for the endowment, first, of the 
presidency, and then of professorships, and 
the increase of the library. 

The college accepted the proposal, and 
has been from that time under the care of the 
Synod of Geneva. Yet Mr. B. never designed 
to narrow its boundaries or diminish its 'liberal 
catholicity. In the recent effort to raise 
$50,000 by subscription to improve and en- 
dow the college and meet the conditions of 
the State appropriation, Mr. B. at once sub- 
scribed $25,000, in addition to his previous 
gift, making a total of $55,000.* 

Bennett, James Gordon — A jour- 
nalist, born in Banffshire, Scotland, Septem- 
ber 1st, 1795, and educated for the Roman 
Catholic priesthood, emigrated to the United 
States in 1819, was connected with several 
journals published in the city of New York, 
and was chief editor in 1833 of the Pennsyl- 
vanian, a daily paper of Philadelphia. In 
1835, he founded the New York Herald, 
which was very successful. He died June 
1st, 1872. 

Bills, Alfonzo, was born in Jamaica, 
Windham County, Vermont, July 9th, 181 5, 
where he lived and worked on his father's 
mountain farm until seventeen years old, 
with the exception of the summer of 1829, 
when he worked for Judge Taft, of the same 
town, whose son Alphonso was then home on 
his summer college vacation, and assisted in 
gathering the farm crops. Young Bills little 
thought he was working in the hay-field with 
a future Secretary of War and Attorney-Gen- 
eral of the United States. 

* This was still further increased by legacy to 
$80,000. 



BlL] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



361 



Mr. Bills's early educational advantages were 
very poor, being obliged to work hard for his 
daily bread (as the injunction, " In the sweat 
of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread," was par- 
ticularly applicable to that hard, sterile soil) — 
brown bread at that, except on state occa- 
sions, such as the visitation of the minister, 
general training-day, etc., when a wheaten loaf 
would be made and a general feast enjoyed. 

In the summer of 1832, the subject of our 
sketch entered the employ of Captain Daniel 
Read, of Wardsboro, an adjoining town, 
where he worked three years, learning the 
tanner and currier's trade. When his ap- 
prenticeship was completed, he took his first 
'job of finishing a lot of leather, under the 
coveted and exalted title of journeyman ; 
and right here happened one of those strange 
freaks of chance, or, from a higher stand- 
point, one of those providential orderings 
which change the whole course of one's life. 
Our journeyman being ambitious to complete 
his job and count his first money, was in the 
habit of rising early in the morning. One cold 
Monday morning, he went to the shop between 
four and five o'clock, and found the stove 
quite full of ashes. Under the finishing-table 
was a wooden box, in which cold ashes were 
kept; he scooped out a hollow in the mid- 
dle of the old, to deposit the new ashes, 
and in cleaning out the stove he found 
considerable heat, and on examination 
found occasionally a small coal of fire. The 
proprietor also saw it, and remarked, it 
might do mischief. Nothing more was thought 
of it until Tuesday night, when the whole 
family were startled by the crackling of fire. 
The house and shop were not far apart. The 
works were burned to the ground. The jour- 
neyman was out of a job, and the owner was 
out of a place of business. It is needless to 
say, as the burned child dreads the fire, so 



Mr. Bills has ever since been very suspicious 
of wood-ashes. Luckily for our young 
friend, J. &: S. Newell, the merchants of the 
village, were just then in want of a clerk. 
They offered the situation to the journeyman, 
who gladly accepted it, and proudly ex- 
changed the title of journeyman for that of 
clerk. He then began to dream that perhaps 
his fondest wishes might be realized. For 
when a mere child, he would tell his mother 
he intended to be a merchant, and if he 
could find a boy to play "store," calling 
sand, sugar ; muddy water, molasses ; and 
clover-heads, tea ; and buy and sell, using 
chips as the circulating medium, he was hap- 
py. He remained with the Ne wells two 
years, occasionally driving their four-horse 
team to Boston, Brattleboro, and Troy, ex- 
changing country produce for merchandise. 
On one of these trips to Troy, another pivot 
presented itself, on which hung still another 
important change, and which undoubtedly 
altered his subsequent career. He took a 
package of money from a neighboring mer- 
chant to A. & J. Howland, flour-merchants, 
River street, Troy; and while it was being 
counted, and a receipt prepared, he got into 
conversation with the senior partner, who 
said to him, " We are looking for a Yankee 
boy to enter our office, as our book-keeper is 
about leaving us." 

The young man replied, " Guess I am the 
boy you are looking for, as I certainly am a 
Yankee, and would like to get a situation in 
your office." 

A hurried engagement was at once entered 
into, and the following April our Yankee 
was on hand to carry out the arrangement; 
but as there was some misunderstanding as to 
the situation he was expected to fill, he de- 
clined going with Messrs. Howland, and 
found a vacancy in the post-office under 



3 62 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[BlL 



Judge Isaac McConihe, Postmaster, at $15 
per month and board himself. 

He immediately accepted it in hopes of 
doing better some time, and remained there 
about three months, when Mr. Hovvland 
again appeared and asked if he was satisfied 
with his situation ? Mr. Bills promptly re- 
plied, " No, sir!" Anew arrangement was im- 
mediately made, and the young man entered 
Messrs. Howland's employ in July during the 
height of the panic of 1837, where he re- 
mained a book-keeper until the spring of 
1841, when Mr. James Howland retired from 
the firm, and Mr. Bills became a partner in 
the new firm of Howland, Loveland & Co. 
This firm lasted but one year, when Mr. Love- 
land retired, and the firm became Howland 
& Bills, which remained the same until 1846, 
when Mr. Howland died ; which caused 
great distress of mind to Mr. Bills, as he had 
learned to love and respect him, and look up 
to him as a father. He was a noble man, 
honest and true. 

A new firm of Howland, Sage & Bills was 
soon formed, consisting of James Howland, 
William F. Sage, and A. Bills, which was dis- 
solved in a year or two. That firm was suc- 
ceeded by Howland, Bills & Thayer; then 
Bills & Thayer; then by Bills, Thayer & 
Usher ; then Bills, Thayer & Knight. Then 
Mr. Bills retired from the old concern and 
entered into business with William F. Sage 
again, under the firm of Sage & Bills, which 
remained a year or two, when, at the death of 
Mr. Knight, in 1867, he took his place again 
in the old concern under the firm of Bills & 
Thayer, where he remained until the spring 
of 1873, when he sold his interest in the mill 
and business to Mr. Thayer, and has done 
but very little since, although he yet keeps 
an office near the old spot, having spent the 
last forty years within a few hundred feet of 



the place he now occupies. He bought the 
house he now lives in, near Washington 
Park, nearly a quarter of a century ago. Mr. 
Bills has had perhaps more than his share of 
disasters by fire. His store was burned on 
River street in 1844, which was immediately 
rebuilt ; it was again burned and rebuilt in 
1846; the large down-town fire of 1855 
burned the back part of his house and out- 
buildings. The old Merritt & Hart mill, at 
the nail-works, was burned while owned by 
his firm ; also a cooper-shop burned in West 
Troy, in which he was interested. He also 
lost a barn by fire in the alley between First 
and Second streets. 

He often speaks with much interest of a 
land operation he was engaged in in Illinois, 
with two brothers-in law, about twenty-three 
years ago. They bought nearly two thousand 
acres choice prairie land near Geneseo, Henry 
County, 111., at a low price. They then in- 
duced relatives and friends from the old Ver- 
mont hills to emigrate to the newly-pur- 
chased Illinois land. To-day there are six- 
teen families of their own kith and kin lo- 
cated within a short distance of each other, 
and mostly well-to-do farmers ; they have all 
vastly improved their condition by the change. 
Another experience he often relates to his 
friends with much gusto : It was hard times 
with him from the time he first entered busi- 
ness until 1846. He had a family on his hands, 
and was obliged to practise the strictest in- 
dustry and economy in order to keep the 
wolf from the door; but in 1846 a foreign 
war broke out, which caused a large export 
demand for breadstuffs. His firm, Howland, 
Sage & Bills, bought largely of wheat early 
in the fall of that year; very soon the 
market commenced advancing, whereat, of 
course, the partners felt somewhat elated. 
After the business of the day was over, they 



BlR] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



363 



would get together in their office and com- 
pare notes. One Saturday evening, after get- 
ting very favorable market reports, Mr. Sage 
remarked he wanted a good horse ; Mr. How- 
land said he wanted a rifle that would kill a 
crow as far as he could be seen ; Mr. Bills 
said he wanted a good watch. They finally 
agreed to gratify these wants providing the 
market kept on advancing another week. 
The market did advance. Mr. Hovvland 
bought his rifle, Mr. Sage his horse, and Mr. 
Bills his gold watch, which he carries to this 
day, a memento of his first extravagance, also 
of his first successful speculation. 

He has never mingled to any extent in 
politics ; was alderman one year ; received the 
nomination for mayor from the American 
party when that party was in its glory. He 
declined to run. Was interviewed once or 
twice as to taking the nomination for member 
of Assembly. He always said No ! He 
was satisfied that he had neither taste nor 
ability to make a successful politician and re- 
tain his self-respect. He preferred to give 
his strict attention to the manufacture of 
flour, and let others more willing and capa- 
ble attend to making laws. He never could 
get rid of his early Vermont training, that it 
was not quite the thing for a man to work for 
his own political preferment by buying his 
nomination, then buying his election, elec- 
tioneering, and voting for himself. He 
thinks the office should seek the man, and 
not the man the office. 

Mr. Bills has for many years spent a good 
deal of his time in working for others, and is 
yet doing the same thing. He has been 
a governor of the Marshall Infirmary for 
nearly twenty years, and for about ten years 
one of its committee of management, and for 
a number of years its secretary. He was a 
director in the old Bank of Troy until it was 



merged in the United National Bank ; has 
since been a director and one of the execu- 
tive committee in the last-named bank ; was 
one of the incorporators of the Free Library 
and Reading-Room ; was executor of three of 
his old partners' estates ; was a member of the 
vestry of St. John's church for a number of 
years, and took quite an active part there 
during the rectorship of Rev. Dr. Potter, now 
of Grace Church, New York, for whom he 
formed a very strong attachment ; was also 
one of the incorporators of the Troy Board 
of Trade, and its president one year; also one 
of the advisory committee of the Day Home 
in the early days of that most excellent 
charity. 

He was married, in 1840, to a daughter of 
Peter Hammond, of Wardsboro, Vt. One 
child, now Mrs. Knight, was born in 1842. 

The venerable father Hammond is yet 
living at Geneseo, 111., and will be one hun- 
dred and two years old at his next birthday. 

Bird, William A. — Descended in a 
direct line from Thomas Bird, of Hartford, in 
1642. His great grandfather, John Bird, was 
sergeant-at-law, settled early in Litchfield, 
Ct., and was a large landed proprietor. His 
grandfather, Seth Bird, was a physician of 
distinguished ability in Litchfield. His 
father, John Bird, was a graduate of Yale 
College, studied law with Tappan Reeve, and 
settled in Troy, N. Y., in 1791. He was a 
member of the Legislature in New York City 
in 1796 and 1797, and at Albany in 1798, 
the first year the Legislature met at that 
place. He was a member of Congress in 
1800 and 1 80 1. William A. was born in 
Salisbury, Ct., March 23d, 1797, at the resi- 
dence of his maternal grandfather, Colonel 
Joshua Porter, his father being then in the 
Legislature in New York City. He was 



364 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Blo 



fitted for college at Lenox Academy, and 
entered Yale College in 181 3; but left the 
next year on account of his mother's sick- 
ness, and did not return. He was a clerk in 
a store in New York in 1815-16. In 1817, 
he was appointed Assistant Surveyor with 
the Commission for running the boundary- 
line, under the sixth and seventh Articles of 
the Treaty of Peace at Ghent. He served 
as such in 181 7 and 18 18, and in 18 19 was 
made principal surveyor, and had charge of 
the survey, until, having completed the sur- 
veys and maps from St. Regis, on the St. 
Lawrence, through the lakes and rivers to 
the Nebish Rapids in the St. Mary's River 
(the terminus of the sixth Article), in 1822, 
he resigned and soon after settled permanent- 
ly at Black Rock. 

In 1824-25 and 1826, he was employed in 
the construction of the piers and harbor of 
Black Rock. In 1827, in company with 
General Porter and Robert McPherson, they 
built the first flowing-mill at Black Rock. 
In 1835 and 1836, he superintended the' 
building of the Buffalo and Niagara Falls 
Railroad, and was director, superintendent, 
and treasurer of that road until it was leased 
to the New York Central Railroad Company 
in 1823-24. In 1852, he was appointed 
Supervising Inspector of Steamboats, and 
with the first Board assisted in forming a 
code of rules, which, with little variation, have 
continued to this time. He was several 
years supervisor of the town, and was twice 
elected and served in the Legislature in 1842 
and 1851. In 1854, he was elected Presi- 
dent of the Erie County Savings Bank, 
when first organized, and has continued in 
that situation to this time. 

He early became a large owner of real es- 
tate at Black Rock, and was deeply inter- 
ested in the growth of the place. In 1836, 



he was associated with L. F. Allen, H. Pratt, 
and others in the purchase of a large part of 
the lands in the village plot, and for many 
years was an active agent in the construction 
of basins, flumes, and other facilities for the 
mills and machinery being erected on the 
water-power, and in the laying out and open- 
ing of streets and other improvements. 

Blossom, Colonel Ira A.— Col mel 

Blossom was born in Monmouth, Kennebec 
County, Maine, December 24th, 1789. His 
early education was from the common 
schools, though later he attended the aca- 
demy of his native town. Early in the year 
1810, at the age of twenty, he went to 
Erie, Pa., and took charge of an academy, 
continuing in that employment a year or 
two, after which he studied medicine and 
practised that profession for a time in Erie; 
from thence he removed to Meadville, Pa., 
and was employed by the Holland Land 
Company in the sale of their lands in that 
State, with Harm. Jan Huidokoper, Esq., 
where he continued several years till 1826, 
when the company employed him to take 
the local agency for the sale of their lands in 
Niagara and Erie counties, N. Y., his office 
being in Buffalo. 

In 1828, he was espoused to Miss E. I. 
Hubbard. Their only child, a daughter, is 
still living. 

He was interested with large interests of a 
public nature, such as the settlement of the 
affairs of the late United States Branch Bank ; 
also another State bank located in Buffalo. 

Though frequently solicited by his fellow- 
citizens to become a candidate for important 
and responsible civil trusts, he always pre- 
ferred the tranquil satisfaction of a life of 
private benevolence to the enjoyment of pub- 
lic honors. 




*»s coi 1 



**T, SHO^ 



Bow- Bra] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



367 



He was called from this transitory life 
October 22(1, 1856, and his loss was sincerely 
felt, not only by the immediate circle of his 
intimate friends, who lost in him a quiet, 
genial, and most attractive gentleman, but 
also by the destitute, whose wants his liberal 
hand was ever ready and open to relieve, by 
the sufferers whose sorrows have been sooth- 
ed by prompt and feeling sympathy, and by 
the numerous young men whom he assisted 
with his credit and his means, and who were 
indebted to him for the beginning of their 
prosperity. 

He was a man of marked character, com- 
bining great business capacity with singular 
suavity of manner and great firmness and 
decision, and he illustrated a long life by the 
most unblemished integrity and the faithful 
discharge of every public and private duty. 

Bowen, Judge Levi Fowler. — This 
distinguished jurist was born November nth, 
1808, at Homer, Cortland County, N. Y., 
where his parents, Levi and Anna Bowen, had 
for some time lived, though they were origin- 
ally from Woodstock, Ct. Levi Fowler 
Bowen, the subject of this sketch, was sent 
early to school, and afterward received a 
preparatory education at the Academy at 
Homer. He then entered Union College at 
Schenectady, from which institution he grad- 
uated with honors during 1830. He then, 
for a short season, attended law school at 
Lexington, Ky. After which, he read law 
with Joseph C. Morse and Judge Woods, at 
Lockport, N. Y., and in due season was ad- 
mitted to the practice of his profession. Soon 
after this eventful period, he became a partner 
with his former preceptors, continuing as such 
five years, when J. C. Morse retired from the 
firm. The copartnership with Judge Woods 
continued for some time after this. It, how- 



ever, was ultimately dissolved, when he took 
into partnership his nephew, G. W. Bowen, who 
had been prepared for the law by and read 
under him. After being admitted to the bar, 
Levi Fowler Bowen used all his industry, for 
which he is now remarkable, to qualify himself 
thoroughly in his profession. In 1845, he was 
elected a member of the State Assembly, and 
in 1867 a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention. During his professional career, he 
has been Judge of the Supreme Court, mem- 
ber of the Court of Appeals, County Judge, 
a position he still holds, besides being Presi- 
dent of the National Exchange Bank of 
Lockport. In 1840, he was joined in wedlock 
to Miss Sylvia M. De Long, who departed 
this life in 1867. As a member of the Ni- 
agara County bar, by the consent of his pro- 
fessional brethren, he stands proudly eminent. 
He is profound as a lawyer, as a judge, and 
as a speaker before court and jury. Judge 
Bowen is now seventy years of age, with a 
mind matured by experience, a constitution 
that is hale and vigorous. Without injuring 
any one, he has accomplished much ; and as 
a judge, lawyer, a citizen, and a man he de- 
serves the esteem of posterity. 

Brand, John, was born in Germany, Jan- 
uary 1 st, 1 82 1, received a common-school edu- 
cation, and at the age of thirteen was appren- 
ticed to the soap-and-candle making business, 
at which he worked till he was twenty-nine 
years of age, when he came to this country, 
working on a farm and at many other laborious 
occupations. In 1853, he owned a brick-yard, 
with which, together with a garden for raising 
vegetables, he occupied himself till i860, when 
he engaged in the retail grocery and pro- 
vision business, at which he remained ten 
years, when he sold out with the intention of 
retiring from business life. But in 1872 he 



3 68 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Bra — Bur 



embarked in the leaf-tobacco business, at 
which he is still engaged. Though of a re- 
tiring disposition, he has been compelled to 
accept several local official positions, such as 
supervisor, city treasurer, police commissioner, 
etc., all of which he has filled with honor. 

Bradley, George B. — This distinguished 
jurist was born at Greene, Chenango County, 
N. Y., February 25th, 1825. His education 
included common-school and academic train- 
ing. In May, 1848, he was admitted to the 
bar at Oswego, N. Y., when he immediately 
moved to Steuben County, where he has 
practised law ever since, residing at Corning 
since 1852. Filled with honorable emula- 
tion and a fair field before him, it was not 
long before he became known as a rising man 
in his profession. In 1871, he was nominated 
in the twenty-seventh district for State Sena- 
tor, though defeated by a small majority. In 
1872, he was appointed by Governor Hoffman 
a member of the Constitutional Commission. 
In 1873, he was again nominated for the State 
Senate, and elected by over 2800 majority. In 
1875, he was again nominated and elected, 
filling the positions each time with distinc- 
tion and ability. He has been a stirring prac- 
tical man, both in his public and his private 
life. He has done much and all honorably. 
He is a polished, ready, eloquent, and most 
effective speaker, and takes a prominent part 
in all important debates. He signalized his 
entrance into the Senate by his minority re- 
port from the Committee on Privileges and 
Elections on the Abbott-Madden contested 
election case. He favored the retention of 
Abbott as sitting member until all the evi- 
dence in the case had been offered and re- 
ported on by the committee. His speech in 
support of his report was the most able and 
eloquent presentation of Mr. Abbott's claims 



that was addressed to the Senate. In the 
community in which he lives he enjoys the 
entire confidence of all who know him, re- 
gardless of party or condition, as one of the 
purest of men, reliable in every respect, though 
modest and retiring, passing for less than his 
real worth ; a man of great attainments, which 
are sound and substantial. 

Burrell, Harry, was born in Sheffield, 
Berkshire Co., Mass., November 28th, 1797. 
When six years old, he moved with his parents 
to Salisbury, Herkimer Co., N. Y., and there 
received all his education from the public 
schools of that locality. At an early age he 
commenced to help his father on the farm. 
Afterward he embarked in farming for him- 
self, besides dealing largely in cheese, which 
he collected from the farmers, sending it to 
New York, and from there shipped it to Eu- 
ropean markets, he being among the first who 
ever sent cheese to England. He now owns 
twelve large dairy-farms, which are all sub-let, 
his farmers receiving two fifths of the pro- 
ceeds, and he the remaining three fifths. 

Mr. Burrell has been married three times: 
first to Miss Charlotte Waterman, who died 
April 10th, 1821 ; next to Miss Ormenda Carr, 
who died January 17th, 1839, and by whom he 
had seven children, four sons and three daugh- 
ters. His third marriage took place Septem- 
ber 17th, 1839, to Miss Sarah M. Hamlin, by 
whom he has had two sons. 

The principal cause of success has been 
active attention to business; and though now 
eighty, he is in the full bloom of manhood. 
One of the effective attributes of his popular- 
ity is the purity of his character. It is this 
which has given him the esteem of all men. 
He will leave as a heritage to his children 
wealth, honor, and position — and all has been 
his own work. 




S«P 




Bur— C as] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



375 



Burrill, T. N., was born at I^lbridge, 
Onondaga County, N. Y., March 2d, 1832. 
His father's and mother's names were Lyman 
and Electa Burrill. His early education was 
confined to the opportunities afforded by the 
schools of his native town, which he attended 
until he was seventeen, when he moved to 
Vernon, Oneida County, N. Y., and filled the 
position of clerk for one year, when he moved 
to Penn Yan, Yates County, N. Y., and 
clerked there for two years, when he went 
into business for himself. In 1862, he sold 
out and entered the army; returning in 1866, 
he for some time made Rochester his home, 
and finally moved to Buffalo, and engaged 
himself in the furniture business. The firm 
he is now a member of is the well-known 
house of Burrill, McEwen & Co. 

Mr. Burrill was married November 1st, 
1859, to Miss Julia A. Robbins, of Penn Yan, 
the issue of which has been two children, only 
one of whom survives. No man really occu- 
pies a more enviable position in the commu- 
nity of which he is a member, nor more 
clearly exemplifies the legitimate result of 
well-directed energy, industry, and thorough- 
ness of purpose. 

Carryl, Lorenzo, was born January 
15th, 1 8 16, in Schoharie County, N. Y., and 
was the oldest son of N. F. Carryl, a native 
and merchant of that county. The subject 
of this sketch received a good common school 
and academical education, after which he 
served in his father's store till twenty years of 
age. In this way he obtained a good busi- 
ness training. In 1836, he moved to Herki- 
mer County, continuing to act as clerk for 
four years, when, stimulated by honorable 
business emulation, he commenced for himself 
as a country merchant. This proving suc- 
cessful, he became largely identified with the 



cheese interest, for which Herkimer County is 
so justly noted, and in this branch he was en- 
gaged over twenty-five years, after which he 
went into dairy-farming and banking. Virtu- 
ally retiring from business, he in 1867 re- 
moved to Little Falls, where he has since re- 
sided. In 1842, he was joined in wedlock to the 
eldest daughter of William Burrell, Esq., of 
Salisbury, by whom he has had eight children, 
three of whom survive, one daughter and two 
sons. The latter are lawyers practising at Lit- 
tle Falls. Mr. Carryl has been the architect 
of his own fortune. He has always followed 
the golden maxim, " Attend to your own 
business, and it will attend to you." As far 
as worldly wealth is concerned, he has accom- 
plished a sufficiency, and now is retired. In 
review of his life he does not have to mourn 
over an ill-spent youth. He has filled many 
important positions in life, among which we 
may enumerate many trusty offices, and in 
1852 he was elected sheriff of the county. 
In 1870 he was appointed by Gov. Hoffman, 
as one of the State Assessors. He was also del- 
egate from his district to the famous " Charles- 
ton Convention," and was for a number of 
years a member of the State Democratic 
Committee. In the fall of i860, he was a Dem- 
ocratic candidate for Congress. The district 
being largely Republican, he suffered honora- 
ble defeat. Mr. Carryl is now director in the 
Herkimer County National Bank and War- 
rior Mower Company. His life is a bright 
example to the living and to posterity. 

Case, George M. — In speaking of the 
commercial interests and developments of 
New York by her prominent citizens, it is 
with pleasure we produce a brief notice of 
George M. Case, of Fulton, Oswego County, 
N. Y., one of her well-known and successful 
operators. He was born at Fulton, N. Y., 



37 6 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Cha 



August 29th, 1827, to which place his parents 
removed from Oneida County, N. Y., two 
years before. Here he received his early 
schooling and training, and when seventeen, 
he taught school one winter. After this, he 
acted as clerk in a general store, where he 
remained until of age. At this time he entered 
into partnership with his father and brother, 
continuing in trade until 1 861, when he com- 
menced business for himself as contractor. 
This particular branch had been a specialty 
with his family for many years. In it he 
proved successful, and so continued until 
1870, when he was elected cashier in the 
Citizens' National Bank of Fulton, a position 
he still holds. He was also a director for 
fifteen years in the Oswego River, now First 
National Bank, a position he filled with great 
benefit to the institution. In 1872 and 1876, 
Mr. Case represented his congressional dis- 
trict in the Republican State Committees. In 
the last legislature he represented the Second 
Assembly district of Oswego County. In Sep- 
tember, 1850, he was joined in wedlock to 
Miss French, also of Fulton, by whom he has 
one son and one daughter. 

Thus he has added to his interests, and 
through his shrewd business management, 
observation, and extensive knowledge, has 
managed to make his investments profitable. 
His tastes are elegant and refined, and since his 
virtual retirement from the pressing duties of 
business, he has found enjoyment in the cul- 
tivation of those tastes. In manners he is 
affable and genial, and his disposition frank 
and generous. In business matters he has 
always been prompt, and has never allowed 
his engagements to be unfulfilled or postponed. 

Chatfield, Thomas I., was born at 
Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Mass., 
September 16th, 1818, where he resided until 



he was twenty years of age, during which 
time he was brought up on the farm, receiv- 
ing, during the winter months, the advantages 
of the common schools of his locality, until 
eighteen years old. He then apprenticed 
himself to a baker, with whom he remained 
two years, when he left home for the then 
called " West," and landed at Owego, Tioga 
County, N. Y., March, 1839, where he has 
since resided. For the first six months he 
lived out as a journeyman baker ; after which, 
he bought the business and connected the 
grocery trade with it. Three years later, he 
sold the bakery and moved his grocery busi- 
ness on to Front street, which he has since 
continued. In 1849, he was visited by fire, 
and lost every thing, even his insurance. Stim- 
ulated by ambition, he on the same day of 
his loss made a fresh start, and had a stock ot 
goods on sale before nightfall, proving success- 
ful. In 1853, he built a large block on Main 
street, occupying the corner store himself, 
where he remained about five years. His 
great and growing business requiring more 
room, he moved on to his present site, and 
here in 1870 the fiery element paid him 
another visit, destroying every thing. He im- 
mediately rebuilt, during which time he occu- 
pied the adjoining store. Aside from giving 
his close attention to his large business, he 
has held the positions of president, trustee, 
and supervisor of the village of Owego on 
various occasions ; he has also been vice- 
president of the National Union Bank of 
Owego, and director in the Bank of Owego. 
In 1853, he represented the county of Tioga 
in the State Assembly. In 1872 and 1873, he 
served in the State Senate, with distinction 
and honor. 

Mr. Chatfield was twice married, the first 
time in 1841. His second marriage occurred 
in 1858, when he was joined in wedlock to 




■; 








e=£ 



y 




^6/ 



A / 



L/X^c 




<? 



Chi-Cla] 



BIOCKAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



333 



Lucy B. Goodrich, of Owego. By this mar- 
riage one son was born, October 4th, 187 1. 
He has amassed a large estate ; but we are 
happy to say his charities have always in- 
creased in the ratio of his growing fortune, 
and few men have lived who have been of 
more substantial benefit to society than 
Thomas I. Chatfield. 



Childs, Henry, the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Deerfield, Franklin 
County, Mass., on the 18th day of July, 
1819, and is descended from ancient Ameri- 
can stock. His great great great grand- 
father, Deacon Richard Childs, settled in 
Barnstable, Mass., about the middle of the 
seventeenth century. His son, Deacon Samuel 
Childs, settled in Deerfield, Mass., as early as 
1709. His son, Deacon Samuel Childs, Jr. ; 
grandson, Amzi Childs; and great-grandson, 
Henry Childs, were all born, died, and are 
buried in the town of Deerfield, Mass. 

Henry Childs, first above mentioned, was 
sent to school when young, and had all the 
advantages of early mental culture. When 
twenty years of age, he commenced a course 
preparatory for college at Phillips Academy, 
Andover, Mass., entering Yale in 1842, and 
graduating in 1846 with full honors. The 
same year he located in Cleveland, O., 
where he remained eleven years, engaged 
during this time in teaching and in book busi- 
ness. 

Mr. Childs was always remarkable for per- 
severance and ambition to excel in business 
pursuits; and having faith in the future of 
Buffalo, N. Y., he moved to that city in 
1857, an opening being afforded to engage 
in the business of iron manufacture in a 
forge. This vocation he has since then suc- 
cessfully pursued, being at present sole pro- 



prietor of works known by the name of Buf- 
falo Steam Forge. 

On the 19th of August, 1847, Mr. Childs 
joined in wedlock to nee Miss Elizabeth 
Hitchcock, also of Deerfield, Mass. (whose 
ancestors sleep in the same cemetery as his) ; 
and of their marriage have been born four 
children, the three youngest of whom survive. 
Mr. Childs is a member of the La Fayette 
street Presbyterian church, and through his 
liberality and devotion has been appointed 
to some of the most responsible positions of 
the church. 

In manners he is affable and genial ; his 
disposition frank and generous. 

In business matters he is always prompt, 
never allowing his engagements to be un- 
fulfilled or postponed. 

In the community in which he lives he en- 
joys the entire confidence of all who know 
him, as one of the purest of men, reliable in 
every respect, though modest and retiring, 
and passing for less than his real worth. A 
man of large attainments, which are sound 
and substantial. 



Clarke, Freeman, was born in Troy, 
N. Y., March 22d, 1809. At an early age 
he began business for himself as grocer and 
dealer in country produce. In 1829, when 
but eighteen years old, he went to Albion, 
Orleans County, with a large stock of goods 
bought on credit, where he engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits, the manufacture of flour, and 
other successful enterprises. In 1837, he was 
elected cashier of the Bank of Orleans, at 
which he served eight years, when he re- 
moved to Rochester, where he conducted a 
large and successful banking business for 
many years, and where he has held office 
in several large companies. 



334 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Com 



Mr. Clarke has always taken more or less 
interest in politics. Up to 1837, he was iden- 
tified with the Democratic, and subsequently 
with the Whig and Republican parties. He 
was vice-president of the Whig State Con- 
vention, in 1850, in which Washington Hunt 
was nominated for governor. The president, 
Hon. Francis Granger, seceded with a por- 
tion of the delegates, and organized as the 
Silver Gray and Know-Nothing party. Mr. 
Clarke acted as president of the convention 
after Mr. Granger retired. 

In 1852, he was a delegate to the Whig 
National Convention which nominated Gen- 
eral Scott for the presidency. He was vice- 
president of the first Republican Convention 
of New York, in which Myron H. Clark 
was nominated for governor, and Henry J. 
Raymond for lieutenant-governor. In 1856, 
he was chosen presidential elector on the 
Fremont and Dayton ticket. In 1862, he 
was elected a representative from New York 
to the Thirty-eighth Congress, at the expira- 
tion of which he declined a re-election. In 
1865, he was appointed Comptroller of the 
Currency. During the administration of this 
office, the State banks were nearly all re- 
organized under the National Currency act. 
In 1867, he was elected a member of the 
New York State Constitutional Convention, 
of which he was one of the leading members. 

In 1870, he was re-elected a representative 
from New York to the Forty-second Con- 
gress, in which he served on the Committee 
on Appropriations. 

In 1872, was re-elected to the Forty-third 
Congress, in which he served on the Com- 
mittee of Foreign Affairs. In 1876, was can- 
didate from his district for presidential elector. 

As a business man Mr. Clarke has been uni- 
formly successful, and has discharged the du- 
ties of every public position he has held with 



great credit and with the approval of his con- 
stituents. 

Comstock, George Franklin. — The 

subject of this sketch was born of revolution- 
ary ancestry, at Williamstown, in the county 
of Oswego, August 24th, 181 1. His parents 
emigrated from Connecticut before the com- 
mencement of the present century. His 
father was a soldier and non-commissioned 
officer in the revolutionary army. Having 
entered the service when very young, he 
continued through the war, and was at the 
siege and surrender of Yorktown. He died 
in the boyhood or early youth of his son, 
who was left without means of acquiring 
a liberal education. The latter was dis- 
tinguished at a very early age by the love of 
study and books, and he enjoyed some of the 
advantages of the common schools of that 
day. Thrown upon his own resources, he re- 
solved to achieve a liberal and classical edu- 
cation. He taught in the common schools, 
and receiving aid from liberal friends, he enter- 
ed Union College at Schenectady, from which 
he graduated with high honors in the year 
1834. After graduating, he taught for a year 
or two the Greek and Latin languages in a 
classical school at Utica, of high reputation, 
pursuing at the same time the study of the law 
in that city. In 1835, he removed to Syra- 
cuse, where he has since resided. He finish- 
ed his preparatory law studies in the office of 
the late B. Davis Noxon, a lawyer of great 
distinction at the bar of Central New York, 
and was admitted to practice in the year 1837. 
In 1839, he was joined in wedlock with Cor- 
nelia, the daughter of Mr. Noxon. After ad- 
mission to the bar, he entered at once upon a 
large practice, to which he applied himself 
with extraordinary industry, while continuing 
his professional reading. 






<^z^ *,s~ 



^ (^a^<- 



COMLE 



NEW YORK . 



Coo] 



P.IOCRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



387 



In 1874, after ten years of practice, he re- 
ceived from the Governor the appointment of 
Reporter to the decisions of the Court of 
Appeals, which was the tribunal of last resort 
in the State. This appointment might be 
deemed Mattering to a young lawyer, because 
the position had usually been filled by the 
best legal talent in the State. The names of 
Judge Denio and Nicholas Hill, who had 
preceded him in the same position, are fami- 
liar to the profession. During the three years 
for which he held this appointment, he pre- 
pared and published four volumes of the de- 
cisions of that court, practising during the 
same period actively as counsel, and mainly 
at the bar of that court. In 1852, he was in- 
vited by President Fillmore to fill the office 
of Solicitor of the Treasury of the United 
States. He accepted this appointment, and 
retired from the office with the administration 
of Mr. Fillmore, on the 4th of March, 1853, 
resuming immediately his professional prac- 
tice in the higher courts. In 1855, he was 
elected by the Conservative Whigs and Ame- 
icans as judge of the Court of Appeals, and re- 
mained on the bench for six years, during two 
of which he was the Chief-Justice. He was 
nominated for re-election by the Democratic 
party in i86i,but was defeated with all the 
other candidates for State officers nominated 
by the same party. This event was deemed 
by him most fortunate. He wisely chose to 
resume his career at the bar. Having be- 
come widely known as a lawyer, his decisions 
as a judge had enhanced his reputation, and 
opened a field of practice in causes of the 
first importance. Soon after leaving the 
bench, he found time to annotate and edit 
for the heirs of the late Chancellor Kent a new 
edition of his celebrated commentaries. 

In 1867, he was elected a delegate for the 
State at large to a convention called for the 



purpose of revising the State Constitution. 
Prominent among the causes for calling this 
convention was the necessity for reorganizing 
the judicial system of the State, especially in 
respect to the Court of Appeals. To that 
branch of the work of the convention Judge 
Comstock gave his particular attention, and a 
new judiciary article was framed, which was ac- 
cepted by the people of the State, on a separate 
submission to the popular vote, while the re- 
sidue of the work of the convention was re- 
jected. To his efforts in the convention, and 
in securing the approval of the public, the im- 
portant changes in the judicial organization of 
the State are, in a very important sense, due. 
In politics he belonged to the Whig party, 
while it existed. When it went out of exist- 
ence, he joined the Democratic party, to 
which he has steadily adhered ever since. 
He mingled somewhat actively in political 
discussion before and during the war of the 
rebellion, and his speeches and addresses 
commanded the public attention, especially in 
the constitutional aspects which the cast of 
his mind imparted to them. His views were 
considered decided and pronounced in op- 
position to the measures and policy of the Re- 
publican party in power. He is still actively 
as ever engaged in his profession, but only in 
its higher walks. Upon his private life no 
stain has ever rested, and as a citizen he is 
distinguished for the prominent part he has 
taken in the foundation and care of public in- 
stitutions of learning and charity. 

Cooke, C. W., was born at Preston, 
New London County, Ct, in the year 
1800. During his youth, he had all the edu- 
cation afforded by the schools in the locality 
of his home. After which, he entered his fa- 
ther's factory, where he received his early busi- 
ness training. In 1820, he, in company with 



388 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Coo 



two brothers, moved to North Hampton, and 
there started a woollen factory, which they 
continued for ten years. In 1830, he and his 
brother James moved to Lowell,* Mass., and 
took charge of the Middlesex Woollen Mills. 
In 1845, the subject of this sketch moved to 
Seneca Falls, where he remained some time 
as superintendent of woollen mills, and final- 
ly moved to Waterloo, N. Y., to take entire 
charge of the large woollen mills there, contin- 
uing in that position until his death, which 
occurred February 15th, 1873, surrounded by 
his wife, family, and friends, deeply mourned 
and beloved as a faithful Christian. During 
his life's pilgrimage, he was very much inter- 
ested in Sunday-schools, and during his resi- 
dence both in Lowell and Waterloo was super- 
intendent of the Episcopal Sunday-schools, 
and in them a great worker. 

Through all the vicissitudes of a long busi- 
ness life, he maintained a character of the 
most perfect integrity, and died amidst the 
love and respect of zealous, admiring friends; 
and hundreds of young hearts who are reli- 
giously educated by his bounty breathe his 
name with gratitude. 

Cooke, William Warren, was born 
August 23d, 1804, at Fort Ann, Washington 
County, N. Y., where he resided until he was 
twenty-six years of age, during which time he 
received a good education. 

In 183 1, he removed to Peru, Clinton Coun- 
ty, N. Y., and in company with his elder 
brother, Calvin Cooke, went into the lumber 
and iron business. This continued until 1845, 
when the copartnership was dissolved. In 
1836, Mr. W. W. Cooke removed to White- 
hall, and in 1838 formed a copartnership 

* The two brothers had charge of the Middle- 
sex together. 



with a younger brother in the lumber busi- 
ness, which continued until 1846, when it was 
terminated by the decease of his brother. 

W. W. Cooke carried on the lumber trade 
at Whitehall alone until 1862, when one of 
his sons, Mr. W. H. Cooke, was admitted to 
a partnership in it, the firm name being W. W. 
Cooke & Son, which firm exists at the present 
time. 

During his connection with the lumber 
business, he has built six steam planing-mills, 
of which one was in Canada, and was finally 
abandoned in consequence of the effect on the 
business of the Reciprocity Treaty between 
the United States and Canada. 

During an experience of upward of forty- 
five years, steady and increasing prosperity has 
attended him. 

He was among the first to import lumber 
from the Ottawa and lower St. Lawrence into 
tie United States, a trade since grown to 
enormous proportions between the two coun- 
tries. 

He established a reputation for strict in- 
tegrity and fair dealing in all transactions with 
individuals and the two governments, to which 
his large operations made him commercially 
responsible. 

Besides the care bestowed upon his large 
business operations, he was one of the organ- 
izers and directors of the Commercial Bank 
of Whitehall, also a director in the old Na- 
tional Bank since its organization ; director 
in the New York and Canada Railroad, Sara- 
toga and Whitehall Railroad ; director and 
president of the Whitehall and Rutland Rail- 
road — positions he filled with distinction and 
ability. 

He was joined in wedlock June 5th, 1832, 
to Miss Hearty C. Clark, of Middletown, 
Vt., by whom he has living six children. She 
was one of the family of Enos Clark and 



Cor — Cus] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



393 



Electa Colver, and was born at Middletown, 
September 6th, 1805. She possessed in an 
eminent degree superior traits characteristic 
of both her paternal and maternal families, 
and through life demonstrated the real use of 
woman's peculiar and extraordinary power 
without ostentatious display. She exerted a 
positive and salutary influence over her fam- 
ily in the home circle, where all woman's vir- 
tues shine the brightest. She died June 3d, 
1874, deeply mourned by her family and 
friends. 

Mr. Cooke has been a staunch member of 
the Baptist Church since 1823, and one of 
the finest edifices erected for Christian wor- 
ship at Whitehall was built mainly by his 
assistance. 

Mr. Cooke is now in his seventy-third year, 
and has virtually retired from active business 
life. He lives at his mansion on a farm of 
500 acres at Whitehall. 

He has always been a working man; in 
fact, still works, enjoying a green old age. He 
has not frittered away his time in visionary 
impossibilities or slothful inaction, but " hon- 
orable labor" has been the maxim of his life, 
and to it he is indebted for the worldly com- 
fort he possesses in the decline of life. 

To his industry, integrity, philanthropy, and 
domestic virtues he owes the tribute of respect 
that is paid to his character. 

Cornell, Ezra, was born at Westchester 
Landing, N. Y., January nth, 1807. Soon 
after the invention of the telegraph, he devoted 
his attention to that enterprise, became very 
wealthy, and in 1865 founded the Cornell 
University. Died December 9th, 1874, at 
Ithaca, N. Y. 

Crocker, Leonard, was born at Argyle, 
Vermont, March 17th, 1805. His father, 



Rev. Lemuel Crocker, was a Congregational 
clergyman. 

While Leonard was an infant, his parents 
removed to Whitehall, New York. His father 
died suddenly March 20th, 1820. In 1825, 
the subject of our sketch was married to Miss 
Penelope Parks, of Albany, who still survives 
him. During the next thirty years after his 
marriage, he was engaged in the business of 
transportation, residing a part of the time in 
New York City, and afterward at Kenosha, 
Wisconsin. 

In the spring of 1856, Mr. Crocker 
came to Buffalo, and purchased a portion 
of the track known as the Tifft farm, lying 
on the lake shore south-east of the city. He 
at once took the superintendency of the 
cattle yards. 

In the early part of the year 1865, the ex- 
tensive stock-yards of the New York Central 
Railroad were opened at East Buffalo, and to 
them the business was transferred, Mr. Crock- 
er continuing in charge till his death, which 
occurred January 2d, 1870. We believe it 
can truly be said that during this long period 
he never made an enemy. 

During all the time of his devotion to the 
duties of a business so complicated and ab- 
sorbing, Mr. Crocker was distinguished as a 
public-spirited and prominent citizen, and an 
active and earnest Christian. The Methodist 
Episcopal church of St. Mark's was built up 
and sustained in a large degree by his con- 
tributions. 

Cushman, Paul. — The subject of this 
sketch was born at Albany, N. Y., December 
25th, 1822. His father, P. Cushman, was 
originally from New Hampshire, and his 
mother, Margaret McDonald, was a native of 
New York State. From 1833 until 1840, 
Paul Cushman attended the Albany Academy. 



394 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Cuv— Dak 



After finishing his education, he entered the 
employ of Isaac Newton, as clerk, a position 
he filled two years, when he moved to Os- 
wego for one year, where he acted as agent 
for a house at Albany. He then returned to 
Albany, and in 1849 commenced the produce 
and commission business fcr himself. In 1853, 
he formed a copartnership with his brother, 
Robert S. Cushman (deceased) ; they con- 
tinuing together until 1869, when, on account 
of declining health, his brother retired. Mr. 
Cushman still continues the business, as im- 
porter of wines, brandies, and mineral waters, 
under the firm style of Cushman & Co. 

In 1845, he was joined in wedlock to Miss 
Mary Jane Taylor, daughter of Captain I. I. 
Taylor, of Oswego, N. Y., who died in 1854. 
The issue of this marriage was two children. 
He was married a second time, 21st January, 
1856, to Miss Julia A. C. Blackwell, of Rich- 
mond, Va., by whom he has had three 
children. 

Mr. Cushman's life has been one of great 
activity, and besides attending to his usual 
business duties he has held the position of 
school commissioner ; director in the Cap- 
itol City Insurance Company ; trustee in the 
National Savings Bank ; trustee of the Albany 
Analine and Chemical Works, besides having 
interests in railroads and such other projects 
that have aided to develop the business indus- 
tries of Albany. He is now in the full vigor 
of manhood, and has already accomplished 
what many men lay out as the work of a pro- 
tracted life — " wealth, honor, and the good- 
will of all men." 

Cuyler, George W., born at Palmyra, 
February 17th, 1809. Died at Palmyra, 
July 20th, 1876. He was the eldest son of 
Major William Howe Cuyler, who was killed 
by the enemy at Black Rock, during the war 
of 1812. 



Mr. Cuyler was educated at Middlebury, 
N. Y. ; was two years in the National 
Academy at West Point, but, leaving for the 
study of law, did not graduate. He studied 
law with his guardian, the late Heman 
Bogert, of Geneva, and practised his pro- 
fession at Palmyra until 1840, engaged dur- 
ing portions of the same time in mercantile 
business, and also owned and edited the 
Wayne Sentinel, in conjunction with the late 
Judge Theron R. Strong. About 1840, he 
gave up his profession and entered the bank- 
ing business, in which, during the balance of 
his life, he continued actively engaged. He 
was president of" Cuyler's Bank" from 1839 
till 1864, when it became the "First Na- 
tional Bank of Palmyra," of which institution 
he continued president until his death. 

During the whole of his life he was an 
active Democrat, with an influence largely 
recognized in the councils of his party and 
the politics of the State. In financial circles 
he was regarded as a conservative financier of 
distinguished ability. He was a vestryman 
and warden of the Episcopal Church for more 
than forty years. With the general material 
interests of that church his name is intimately 
connected, and it was the object of his con- 
stant care and generous and repeated liberal- 
ity. He was of quiet and unobtrusive tastes 
— of remarkable industry and scrupulous in- 
tegrity — and he was led to decline frequent 
offers of large place and emolument, because 
of his devotion to his family and his care for 
the interests of the village in which he was 
born, lived, and died. 

Dakin, George, was born January 10th, 
181 5, at Concord, Mass. His father was 
Amos Dakin, and his mother a Miss Barritt, 
of the same place, and he can date his ances- 
tors back to the early arrivals at Plymouth 
Rock, who reached these shores soon after 



■ 
; 









'* ; 





U^f (S^aSi 






&-*LJL 




Dar] 



BIOGRAPHICAL EN'CYCLOP.Kl »1 A. 



401 



the May Flower. During his early life, he 
attended the common schools of his native 
town, and in 1834 moved to Geneva, N.Y., 
where his brother Eldridge was in the for- 
warding business, and connected himself with 
him. In the spring of 1837, he was engaged 
as captain to ply on the Seneca Lake, and 
for the next fifteen years commanded in turn 
all the new steamers built by the company he 
was with, including the famous steamer Ben 
Loder, named after the then president of the 
Erie Railroad Company, and in whose inter- 
ests she was running. During this time, Mr. 
Dakin was married to Miss Charlotte Brown, 
of Albany, N. Y., in August, 1841, the issue of 
which has been seven children. After the 
railroads killed the lake business, Mr. Dakin 
engaged in the coal trade at Geneva, receiv- 
ing the first load of coal that came into that 
town from Scranton, after the Delaware, 
Lackawanna, and Western Railroad was open- 
ed. In this business he continued success- 
fully for three or four years, when he sold out, 
and commenced farming. This vocation did 
not agree with him, and in 1859 he accepted 
the position of travelling agent for the Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad 
Company's coal interests, with headquarters at 
Syracuse. In the winter of 1861, he was sent 
to Buffalo to locate yards for receiving and 
shipping their coal, and was appointed their 
local agent. At that time, 5000 tons of an- 
thracite coal overstocked a market that now 
consumes over 500,000 tons per year. 

The association is now composed of the 
Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad 
Company, J. Langdon & Co., the Delaware 
and Hudson Canal Company, and W. L. 
Scott & Co. of Erie. Mr. Dakin has remain- 
ed connected with the association ever since 
its formation, and now has charge of the retail 
and shipping business at Buffalo. The posi- 



tion is one full of onerous responsibility, and 
the manner in which the duties are performed 
is best attested by the results that have fol- 
lowed. 

Dart, Joseph, was born at Middle Had- 
dam, Ct., April 30th, 1799, and was the 
third son of Joseph and Sarah Dart, whose 
family consisted of fourteen children. 

During his youth, he received a common- 
school education, and was also for a time a 
pupil of the Rev. David Selden, a graduate 
of Yale. 

When seventeen years old, the subject 
of this sketch moved to Woodbury, Ct., 
where he served an apprenticeship of three 
years in a hat-factory. In December, 1819, 
he moved to Utica, N. Y., and took charge 
of a similar establishment. In 182 1, he 
moved to Buffalo, then a village of 1800 in- 
habitants, and, in company with Joseph 
Stocking, commenced the hat and fur busi- 
ness, continuing the same till the death of 
his partner in 1835. In 1836, Mr. Dart dis- 
posed of his interest to the son of his former 
partner, Thomas R. Stocking. 

On the first of December, 1830, he was 
married to Miss Dotha Denison, daughter 
of E. H. Denison, Esq. They have had 
seven children, two sons and five daughters. 

From 1836 to 1842, Mr. Dart was occu- 
pied in looking after his interests in real es- 
tate, in which his partner and himself had 
been heavily interested. 

In the fall of 1842, he commenced build- 
ing a grain elevator for the transfer and 
storage of grain, which was completed and in 
operation the following June. In the interest- 
ing history of this elevator, read before the 
Euffalo Historical Society, it appears that 
Mr. Dart was the pioneer in this business, be- 
ing the first person to put the elevator into 



402 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[De L 



practical use for commercial purposes. They 
are now in use in most of the leading grain 
depots of the globe. At the single port of 
Buffalo, there are twenty-seven at this time 
(1877), not including two floating elevators, 
with an aggregate storing capacity of six 
millions of bushels. It is thus seen that to 
Mr. Dart the world is indebted for the in- 
troduction of this great and indispensable 
convenience of modern commerce, by which 
is effected a saving of more than half of the 
tonnage and expense in the transportation 
of grain. By the old method, two weeks 
were required to accomplish what can now 
be done in seven hours, and to the elevator, 
in a great measure, may be attributed the 
rapid growth and prosperity of the Queen 
City of the Lakes. 

Mr. Dart remained identified with tbe 
elevator till 1852, when he rented it to 
other parties, and in 1855 sold his interest. 

In 1852, in company with his brother, E. 
D. Dart, and his brother-in-law, William H. 
Ovington, he embarked in the lumber bus- 
iness, and built a planing-mill on the Ohio 
Basin. The firm name of Dart & Bros., 
on the withdrawal of Mr. Ovington in 1862, 
became Dart & Bro., which is the present 
style. 

Although well advanced in years, Mr. 
Dart is still actively engaged in business, 
and maintains a lively interest in all that 
affects the public welfare. 

Judging from the longevity of his ances- 
tors, he will continue to be hale and hearty 
for some time to come. 

Of Mr. Dart's parents the following re- 
cord is preserved : " On the fifth of Octo- 
ber, 1792, Joseph Dart, aged twenty-two, 
and Sarah Hurd, aged nineteen, both of 
Middle Haddam, Ct, were united in 
marriage. After a ] feasant pilgrimage to- 



gether, passed in the same parish on the 
banks of the Connecticut, another festal 
group gathered around them at the old 
home, and celebrated the sixty-second anni- 
versary of their espousals. In this gather- 
ing were thirteen of their fourieen children, 
with an average age of forty-six years. At 
the same meeting were present a brother 
and sister of Mrs. Dart, aged ninety-two 
and ninety-nine." 

De Laney, C. D., was born in Westmore- 
land County, Pa., August 9th, 1811. 

Losing his father during early childhood, 
he was obliged to begin the hard struggle of 
lite at twelve, and was apprenticed at this age 
to a man in Pittsburg, and while there un- 
derwent hardships that the apprentice lad of 
to-day would think almost impossible to en- 
dure. At sixteen, Mr. De Laney entered the 
machine-shop of Warden & Arthur, in Pitts- 
burg. 

From there he moved to Cincinnati, and 
worked with John B. Greene, during which 
time a desire for knowledge made him eager 
to form a night-school; and he with other 
companions tried hard to learn higher mathe- 
matics, in order that he might apply it to his 
business as a machinist. Unfortunately, their 
teacher knew but little more than the scholars, 
and they soon came to a stand-still. 

From Cincinnati he returned to Pittsburg 
as a machinist for a Mr. Gibson, and it was 
while in his employ (1831) that Mr. De Laney 
came to Black Rock, to superintend the con- 
struction of the engines for the steamboats 
Pennsylvania, New York, and Gen. Porter, 
the one put in the Pennsylvania being the 
first marine engine ever built on the lakes. 

In 183?, Mr. De Laney went to Niagara, 
where he superintended the iron work for a 
dry-dock at that point. Thence, in 1835, he 




~tm 





COMLEYBRO? NEW YORK- 



Dou] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



407 



went to New York, and engaged in the Nov- 
elty Works, then owned by the late Dr. Nott 
and F. B. Stillman, where he worked most of 
the time until 1837, when he came back to 
Buffalo and bought out a man mimed Butt- 
rick. 

While occupying that shop, he built a low- 
pressure engine, ten-foot stroke, for the steam- 
boat New England. 

In 1841, he was burned out, and in 1842 
built the Fulton Foundry, now Vulcan Works, 
on Water street. In that shop he built two 
passenger and a number of freight cars for 
the B. & A. R.R. The wheels, axles, and 
in fact every part complete were manufactured 
by him. This was the first attempt at car- 
building in Buffalo. The same year Mr. De 
Laney built the locomotive engine (excepting 
the boiler) "Tecumseh," which is yet in use. 
This is believed to be the first locomotive 
built in Buffalo. About this time reverses 
came, and Mr. De Laney was submerged with 
others in the iron line in a general crash. 

He, however, started again in a small shop, 
employing only a boy, the two doing all the 
work offered until 1853, when he purchased 
the site on which the De Laney Forge and 
Iron-Works now stand. Here is where the 
first steam forge in Buffalo was erected. 
During the war, there were forged at this es- 
tablishment six monitor turrets complete, and 
parts of seven others, which were sent to New 
York for iron-clads. 

The iron rollers in the Union Iron-Works 
were also forged at these works, and are the 
largest in diameter of any forged work in the 
United States. 

In one year this establishment turned out 
$240,000 worth of work. The large hammer 
used in the forging department was built by 
Mr. De Laney, and is considered the most 
effective of any tool of the kind in the United 



States, and a blow of 100 tons can be ob- 
tained with ease. 

Mr. De Laney was the first to use anthra- 
cite and bituminous coal in Buffalo. 

Always working to educate boys and men 
mechanically inclined and showing ability, 
some of the best smiths and hammersmen 
in the country served more or less of their 
apprenticeship with him. Now, having ac- 
quired a competency, he is gradually with- 
drawing from active work, but has the plea- 
sure of knowing that the present firm is an 
assured success, and will ultimately be man- 
aged and owned by his son and others whom 
he has educated to the work himself while in 
his prime. He has done much, and all honor- 
ably ; and now, dwelling in the affluence and 
honor gained by his industry and talents, he 
can look upon the past unsullied carrier of 
his somewhat checkered life with conscious 
pride and satisfaction. 

Douglas, AsaW., was born at Stephen- 
town, New York, June 17th, 1794, and died 
at Lockport, Niagara County, New York, 
June 4th, 1875, and was a cousin of the late 
Stephen A. Douglas, the eminent Democratic 
statesman, and a lineal descendant of William 
Douglas, who landed at Plymouth, in 1630. 
The following is copied from the Lockport 
Daily Journal, issued on June 4th, 1875, the 
date of his death • 

"Asa W. Douglas came to this county in 
18 14 — sixty-one years since. He resided at 
Olcott two years, being extensively engaged in 
the lumber business, and also having a store 
in the same place. He came to this city, or 
what was then little else than a wilderness, in 
181 6, having lost every thing by shipwreck 
and commercial ventures on Lake Ontario. 
He was at first a clerk with Darius Comstock; 
but gradually, by untiring industry, worked 



4o8 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Du B 



into positions of power and trust. He had 
the contract for and built the present canal 
locks in this city, after which the city of Lock- 
port was named. He was the first canal col- 
lector at this point. He was subsequently 
largely engaged in the lumber and stave busi- 
ness here About the year x 846, he went mto 

the milling business with the late Gen. John 
Jackson, under the firm name ot Douglas & 
Tackson The mill was burned about i»55> 
but rebuilt the next year, and the business 
continued until sold to Saxton & Thompson, 
in August, ,867. Since that time Mr Dou- 
glas has not been in any business. He bought 
his present elegant residence in the southern 
part of the city in the fall of 1872. As was 
his right, he has of late enjoyed exemption 
from labor and care. Travel with Ins only 
surviving son, Mr. W. Bruce Douglas, through 
the West Indies; the hospitable and cour- 
teous entertainment of friends ; the quiet 
pleasures of ease and comfort, have of late 

years been his. 

« The death of a man like Asa W. Douglas 
naturally prompts sincere mourning. One of 
the pioneers of this county and city, his in- 
terests have been its interests. Always a public- 
spirited citizen, the present prosperity of Lock- 
port is largely due to his wise counsels his 
directing hand and indomitable energy. What 
he found to do, he did with his might He 
amassed wealth by sturdy blows and well-ma- 
tured efforts. He won success because he 
forced it. And nobody was ever jealous oi 
that success. But the other day we heard 
two of our older citizens joining in the remark 
that they never knew Asa W. Douglas to be 
spoken ill of. A gentleman of the o den 
school; naturally humane and kind; delibe- 
rate and wise in judgment, he formed his 
opinions with judicious care and defended 
them with tenacious zeal. No man's opinion 



was more widely sought in this section at the 
full tide of his life than Mr, Douglas's. Never 
an office-seeker (although often honored with 
the place of supervisor, and perhaps others of 
local significance), his judgment was sough 
and heavily leaned upon by those anxious for 
official position. His was the silent power 
that conquered because born of jus ice, tact 
and skilled observation. Another feature of 
Mr. Douglas's long and useful life was his dis- 
interested benevolence. When convinced 
that a cause or an applicant was worthy, he 
bestowed with generous and warm apprecia- 
tion He could not do too much where 
his judgment and his feelings were enlisted 
Impostors, on the contrary, he could not and 
would not endure. He brooked no shams. 
The death of such a one, we repeat, calls for 
sorrow in this vicinity, and for a more detailed 
newspaper notice than we have facts at our 
disposal at this time to write. His noble and 
busy hfe, however, is treasured up among the 
sunny memories of our older inhabitants, and 
has passed as a sort of heirloom to the keep- 
ing of a later generation." 



Du Bois, Cornelius, son of Koert 
Du Bois, descended from a Huguenot set- 
tler in Ulster County, N. Y., was born in 
the town of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess Coun- 
ty N Y., the 9 th of July, 1802. His 
mother was a member of the society of 
Friends. His father was a farmer, and in 
that pursuit Cornelius was educated, and has 
been engaged in it all his life. In his earlier 
years, the common school furnished him with 
the best education it could then afford. 

\t the age of twenty-four, Mr. Du Bois 
married Julia, daughter of William A. Moore, 
of Fort Anne, Washington County, N. I., 
who is still his life-companion. They have 
had eight children, seven of whom are living. 














'., 



<f£)^e^ 



Dun] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



411 



From boyhood he has been distinguished for 
integrity, sobriety, industry, thrift, and com- 
mon sense. At the age of twenty-six, he was 
chosen foreman of the Grand-Jury of Dutch- 
ess County, by Judge James Emott, Senior, 
and served in the same capacity many times 
afterward. So trustworthy has he always 
been that, in the course of his busy life, he 
has settled twenty-four estates as executor, 
and four as administrator, mostly without the 
assistance of associates or attorneys. 

Mr. Du Bois pursued farming practically 
and successfully until 1840, when, without 
disposing of his land, he engaged in the 
freighting and forwarding business in the 
then thriving village of Poughkeepsie, which 
contained 10,000 inhabitants. The firm 
name was Du Bois & Co. In this business 
he was engaged successfully for six years, 
when he exchanged his property in the vil- 
lage for a farm of 163 acres, lying on the 
borders of the corporate limits of Poughkeep- 
sie. There, with his family, he remained 
twenty years, during which time he served 
four years as supervisor of the village and 
township of Poughkeepsie. These have 
since been divided. The village was incor- 
porated a city in 1854, and now contains 
over 20,000 inhabitants. For four years, Mr. 
Du Bois was President of the Dutchess 
County Agricultural Society. In 1861, he 
was chosen by the late Matthew Vassar to 
be one of the corporators of Vassar College, 
and has been an active member of its Board 
of Trustees from the beginning. For six 
years, he was superintendent of the building, 
and has ever been one of the most judicious 
members of the Executive Committee of 
Vassar College Board of Trustees, enjoying 
the unbounded confidence of the founder 
while he lived. 

For four years, Mr. Du Bois was one of 



the managers of the Hudson River State 
Hospital for the Insane, near Poughkeepsie, 
and was one year a member of the Assembly 
of the State of New York. He was one of 
the founders of the First National Bank of 
Poughkeepsie, and was president of the insti- 
tution eleven years from its organization. 

Mr. Du Bois is now seventy-five years of 
age, and full of mental and bodily vigor ; for 
he has ever been active and temperate ; and 
during his long business life of fifty five years 
he never had a suit at law on his own ac- 
count, but he has been compelled to defend 
three estates against loss by lawsuits. He 
says, " All the knowledge I want about 
law is to know enough to keep out of law- 
suits ;" and the highest title to which he 
aspires is that of a skilful Dutchess County 
Farmer. 

Dunbar, Robert, was born in Carubee, 
Fifeshire, Scotland, in the year 18 13, re- 
ceived a common school education, learned 
the trade of millwright with his father, and 
moved to Canada with his parents in 183 1. 
The subject of this sketch worked at his 
trade in Toronto for two years ; from there he 
moved to Guelph, Ontario, and worked at his 
trade between two and three years ; after- 
ward moved to the village of Black Rock, 
now Buffalo. After moving to several places, 
helping to complete mills, he returned to 
Black Rock in 1859, and took charge of 
building the Niagara Flour Mills. From that 
time he continued to live there, building 
mills there and elsewhere. In 1847, he form- 
ed a copartnership with C. W. Evans, of 
Buffalo, and built and ran a grain elevator, 
now the Evans elevator, in the Ship-Canal, 
until 1853. During the time he was con- 
nected with Mr. Evans, he made plans and 
sent the machinery from Buffalo for the 



412 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Dut — Eth 



first grain elevator ever built in New York 
City. In 1861, the Messrs. Follett and 
Jevvett and Root retired from the company, 
and S. W. Howell, of Black Rock, became a 
partner with him, changing the name to the 
Eagle Iron-Works, Dunbar & Howell propri- 
etors, which partnership continued until 1874, 
when Howell retired, leaving him alone in 
the business. In 1875, he associated with 
him in the business his son, George H. Dun- 
bar, under the style of Robert Dunbar & 
Son, which is the firm at the present time. 

Dutton, Edward Holmes, was born 
December 12th, 1805, at East Haddam, 
Middlesex County, Ct., and was the fourth 
child of Amasa Dutton and Mary Mather, a 
descendant of Cotton Mather. The subject 
of this sketch moved to Ogden, Monroe 
County, New York, September, 18 10, that 
section being at that time little better than a 
wilderness, effecting a crossing of the Gene- 
see River at Avon, the only bridge over the 
river in those days. He attended the district- 
school at Ogden, also the Henrietta and Ro- 
chester high-schools, and afterward studied 
under Ebenezer Everett, a graduate of Yale, 
from whom he received most of his educa- 
tion. After three years' hard study, with that 
end in view, he took a district-school in the 
town of Gates, now part of Rochester. This 
was in November, 1824. For the next seven 
years, he taught in various schools in that sec- 
tion, during which time he was school inspec- 
tor for the town of Ogden three years. 

In April, 1831, he moved to Lockport, 
where he entered the stave and lumber busi- 
ness, and added to his enterprise a country 
store. In 1835, he was joined in wedlock to 
Miss Lovinda Legge. In 1838, lie com- 
menced the stave business at Buffalo, continu- 
ing his residence at Lockport until 1846, when 



he moved to Buffalo, where he has since re- 
sided. In 1862, he opened an office in New 
York City, and in this branch took John P • 
Townsend in as partner. For many years he 
has had an extensive stave business through- 
out the West and all the wine-making coun- 
tries of Europe, proving himself an able and 
conscientious business man. He is well 
known to the citizens of Buffalo, and in con- 
nection with his acknowledged business qual- 
ifications he is highly esteemed for his social 
and moral attributes. 

Ethridge, Alfred, was born at Little 
Fails, Herkimer County, N. Y., July 29th, 
1817. 

When the subject of this sketch was be- 
tween five and six years old, he left his native 
town in company with his parents, who moved 
to Herkimer village ; and when between nine 
and ten years old, Mr. Ethridge left home and 
commenced to carve his own way in the 
world. His first four years were spent on a 
farm, after which he returned to his parents, 
who then lived at Frankfort, Herkimer County, 
where he remained thirteen or fourteen years, 
except one year spent in Utica, N. Y. 

Two years before leaving Frankfort, Mr. E., 
in company with W. Northup, started the gro- 
cery and provision business, previous to which 
he had been a clerk with Mr. Northup and 
other parties, besides teaching school part of 
one year. In 1844, Mr. Ethridge moved to 
Rome, N. Y., to start a branch business, and 
the partnership ot Northup & Ethridge con- 
tinued until the winter of 1856, when fire con- 
sumed the whole of their premises : after this, 
this firm was dissolved, and the subject of 
this sketch commenced again for himself, run- 
ning the business for three years successfully, 
when he gave a former clerk, A. P. Tuller, an 
interest in the business. In 1862 and 1863, 







: *4 

w 





*&- 





I 



Eus — Fer] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



417 



Mr. Ethridge built their present building, es- 
pecially adapted for the wholesale grocery 
and provision business, a fine brick building, 
covering an area of 42 feet front by 144 
deep, running from Dominick street' back 
to the Erie Canal. The building is 
fitted up with every convenience, includ- 
ing a steam elevator, for handling their 
goods cheaply and with dispatch ; and 
their annual sales reach about one million 
dollars. The firm is now Ethridge, Tuller & 
Co., and is among the heaviest and most re- 
spectable firms in Central New York. Mr. 
E., by his close attention to business, good 
judgment, and honorable dealing, has won the 
confidence, respect, and esteem of all who 
know him. 

Eustaphieve, Alexander A., was born 
in Boston, Mass., March 25th, 1812; his 
father being for a long time well known as 
the Russian Consul-General to the United 
States. The subject of this sketch received 
his education mainly in the city of his birth, 
during which period he attended the Boston 
Latin School four years. His first business ex- 
perience was in George Douglas & Co.'s com- 
mission house, New York City. In 1830, he 
moved to Detroit, and accepted the position of 
teller in the Farmers and Mechanics' Bank. 
In 1832, he moved to Buffalo, and accepted a 
similar position in the Bank of Buffalo ; in 
1834, was teller in the Commercial Bank of 
Buffalo ; and after that, held various positions 
of trust in banks as teller and cashier, until 
1842, when he moved to New York and 
went into the commission business ; though in 
1847 returned to Buffalo, and was appointed 
secretary of the Buffalo Mutual Insurance 
Company, which he occupied until 1863, when 
he took up the insurance agency business with 
H. C. Walker, they remaining as partners till 



1877, when H. C. Walker retired. The busi- 
ness is now conducted by A. A. Eustaphieve, 
who has always proved himself a capable and 
thorough business man. 

Farthing, George, was born in Somerset- 
shire, England, April 21st, 1831, and removed 
to Buffalo with his parents dining 1835. His 
father has been dead twenty-five years, and 
his mother twenty years, and both are buried 
in Niagara County, N. Y. 

The subject of this sketch commenced busi- 
ness for himself in 1849, feeding cattle at 
Clark's distillery, and later at Tonawanda. 
At the commencement of the war, he, together 
with his brother James, began the distilling 
business at Tonawanda; three years later they 
were burned out; after which, George removed 
to Buffalo, and did business in cattle-yards 
with his brother Thomas Farthing. In 
1872, they bought out Moore's distillery, which 
they are now running successfully in connec- 
tion with cattle-trade, malt-house, etc.; the 
style of the firm being George and Thomas 
Farthing, the latter attending to the cattle de- 
partment of the business. George Farthing 
was married in April, 1850, to Miss Matilda 
Kelly, the issue of which has been eight chil- 
dren, seven of whom are living. 

Mr. Farthing has always proved himself a 
capable business man, and under his able 
management has, from a small beginning, 
placed himself high in the community in which 
he lives. 

Ferguson, A. W., was born in Spring- 
field, Otsego County, N. Y., May 13th, 
18 1 9. In early life he received only a com- 
mon-school education, afier which he was for 
four years apprenticed to the trade of saddle 
and harness maker. In 1S40, he moved to 
Jefferson County, and commenced working at 



4i8 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 



[Fie 



his trade as a journeyman, continuing for 
eighteen months, when he commenced busi- 
ness for himself in a very small way, doing a 
more or less successful business for three or 
four years, during which time he was married 
to Miss Electa Francis, by whom he has had 
four children; two only survive. In 1848, 
he, stimulated by ambition to benefit his po- 
sition, moved to Malone, N. Y., and opened 
a saddlery and harness store, which proved 
very successful until i860, when he disposed 
of his business that he might give his whole 
time and attention to hop-growing, a branch 
of agriculture he started in 1850 with a very 
few acres of land ; little by little has he added 
to his first possessions, until he now has 
under culture one hundred and fifteen acres 
of the finest hops, and his productions are as 
well known throughout our country among 
the brewers as " household words." This en- 
viable reputation he has achieved by proper 
care of the details of hop-raising, watching 
their progress, and giving them every atten- 
tion, to insure for his products nothing but 
first quality ; and generally his crops are en- 
gaged by the best brewers in the country 
long before picking time, so anxious are 
they to secure what they know to be the 
great essential ingredient for the production 
of the finest ales. His hop-yard, during the 
growth of the crop, presents pictures of agri- 
cultural perfection,' each vine receiving such 
care and treatment as to secure good and 
permanent results ; and in this has he ever 
been successful, and when others have found 
themselves with short and blighted crops, his 
kilns have been full and his customers happy. 
In 1854, he was elected to the State As- 
sembly, a position he filled with dignity and 
honor. In 1853, he was elected and served a 
four years term as justice of the peace. He, 
feeling a pride in the future welfare of the 



home of his adoption, became one of the or- 
ganizers of the Malone Hotel Company, 
which built the Ferguson House, and he is a 
one half owner of the property, by far the 
handsomest block in Malone. Fully intend- 
ing to pass his life in this beautiful town, he 
erected the finest residence in Northern 
New York. It is built of Milwaukee brick, 
and is fitted up inside with all modern con- 
veniences to the ends of happiness and com- 
fort. The woodwork throughout the house 
is of beautiful black-walnut and ash (native 
wood), highly polished, fit for the require- 
ments and luxury of royalty itself. Mr. Fer- 
guson owes his success in life to close appli- 
cation to the details of his business, by which, 
together with his natural business habits, he 
has amassed a large fortune. Though he has 
been frugal, he has never been parsimonious in 
his manner of life, and with a liberal hand has 
he dispensed his charities. Without injuring 
any one, he has accomplished much, and as 
a citizen and man he deserves the esteem of 
posterity. 

Field, Joseph, the subject of this brief 
sketch, was born in Taunton, Mass., March 
29th, 1787. When seventeen years of age, 
he partially served an apprenticeship at the 
carpenter's trade, but followed the occupa- 
tion only a short time. At the age of 
twenty-one, he married Miss Lydia Glover, 
of Dorchester, Mass. Of this his only 
marriage, he has had five daughters, three 
of whom survive — Mrs. Eliza A. Staunton, 
Mrs. Caroline Ely, and Mrs. Almira Beers. 
Of the remaining two, one died in infancy, 
the other, Mrs. Emeline Cobb, died a few 
months since. 

From Dorchester he removed to Walpole. 
New Hampshire, where he remained for 
several years. But having a great desire to 



*«jt 




r/v-d^-^f^/Kj cTLAA oO 



Fie] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



421 



visit the western and south-western parts of 
the United States, he, while here, explored 
much of the southern and south-western 
parts of our country, visiting New Orleans 
twice, once having had the fever of the 
country while there. He also visited most 
of the cities south, and nearly all the inland 
cities from Pittsburg to St. Louis — travel- 
ling most of the way on horseback and by 
boats on rivers, this being the only way of 
journeying of that time. 

After these travels, having great faith of 
the future of Western New York, he re- 
moved in 1827 to Rochester, and soon 
after entered into the auction and commis- 
sion business with Derick Sibley. Added 
to this, the firm engaged in the buying and 
selling real estate, and purchased one 
hundred acres or more of land adjoining 
the city on the west, buying Town Lot No 
63, which lay on both sides of Genesee 
street and along the line of Buffalo street. 
This land they cut up into city lots, laid 
out streets, made maps, etc. This purchase 
was called the " Sibley and Field Tract." 
They erected the once famous and large 
(for those times) stone building on the 
corner of Buffalo and Genesee streets, called 
' The Bull's Head," which was opened and 
occupied for several years as a hotel. On 
this purchase, also, they reserved on Gene- 
see street a lot of ten acres, called " The 
College Square," dedicating its use, as a 
gift, to any parties who should take it and 
put up educational buildings in accordance 
with the views of the donors. It was nev- 
er so taken, and after twenty years it re- 
verted back to the original owners. 

During this time, Mr. Field attended a 
government sale of lands at Green Bay. 
He procured a horse at Chicago — then a 
small, insignificant village — and in company 



with the government agent, went to Green 
Bay on horseback, the party finding their 
way by " blazed trees" and camping at night 
in the forest. This journey resulted in a 
purchase of some lands by Mr. Field, and 
in his prospecting in the West, which he 
was anxious to do, that he might judge of 
the extent and state of the country, which 
was then called " The Great West ;" and 
though impressed with its prospective great- 
ness, it did not wean him from his interests 
in Rochester. 

Leaving the auction and commission 
business after about four years, he entered 
into the milling business, operating for the 
first two years in the " Genesee Falls 
Mills," at the brink of the " High Falls," 
on the east side of the river. The mills 
were then known as the " Palmer Cleveland 
Mills." In this first enterprise he was suc- 
cessful, though occupants before and after 
him were not as much so. 

From this beginning he came to the west 
side, and opened business on the lower, or 
Brown's Race, making a flouring mill out 
of what had been a woollen mill ; and after- 
ward he built the upper mill on that race. 
Here he continued business until he sold 
out and withdrew, continuing a ltogether as 
a merchant miller about fifteen years ; and 
it is believed that at the time of his retiring, 
he was one of the few who had continued 
to be prosperous in that business which 
has engaged so many men and so much 
capital from the beginning of Rochester. 

Mr. Field was one of the originators of the 
" Rochester City Bank," was its president 
for many years, and at its close. His mind 
next turned to railroad interests, he being 
connected with the old Tonawanda Rail- 
road west, which was afterward built from 
Batavia to Buffalo. He was Superintendent 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[For 



of Construction, and afterward President 
of the Buffalo and Rochester Railroad, 
which now is part of New York Central. 
Being thoroughly interested in steam high- 
ways, he turned his attention to roads west 
of Buffalo, and was a member of the meet- 
ing at Fredonia that first advocated a Lake 
Shcre road, which was afterward built. 
He was also more or less interested in all 
the railroads from Buffalo to Chicago, and 
was a Director of the first Board after the 
consolidation of the roads which now form 
the New York Central. 

In this connection it may be stated that, 
k>s than two years ago, he attended the 
annual meeting of the stockholders of the 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Rail- 
road in Cleveland, Ohio, and was made 
chairman of that meeting, though then 
nearly ninety years of age ! 

Having always an interest in the city 
where he lived, he consented, in former 
years, to be a candidate for Mayor of Ro- 
chester, was elected, and served with honor 
and efficiency one term ; but respectfully 
declined the second nomination, though 
pressed to accept it by many citizens. 

He has also been a large owner of real 
estate in Rochester, and only five years ago 
erected a fine large block of stores on State 
street, corner of Market. 

The subject of this short sketch is now 
in the 91st year of his age, and— as will be 
seen by the accompanying engraving— is 
still vigorous and well-preserved for a man 
of his years. He has already passed the 
age allotted to man, and in the course of a 
long and active business life, has been 
brought in contact with very many men ot 
wealth and mind, of the best standing and 
business capacity in the different enterprises 
of life. This has led him through numerous 



transactions, requiring labor, caution, and 
energy, as well as executive ability ; and it 
may be added as a marvel, exceptionally 
strange, that he has been successful in all 
his varied pursuits, never having been 
forced to succumb to financial embarrass- 
ments. 

It may be said too, with perfect truth, 
that there is not a word of reproach against 
his good name — nothing to sully his honor 
or character — nothing to dim the lustre of 
his life, now so near its close. And when 
his spirit shall calmly and hopefully glide 
from earth into the great unknown beyond, 
his honored name will not be forgotten as 
one of those efficient pioneers who helped 
to lay the foundations of civil and religious 
society in Rochester and Western New 
York, and who did their work so well. 

April, 1877. 

Forman, Joshua, was born at Pleasant 
Valley, Dutchess County, N. Y., September 
6th, 1777. His parents were Joseph and 
Hannah Forman, who previous to the Revo- 
lution resided in the city of New York. 
Upon the breaking out of the war and the 
approach of the British to that city, Mr. 
Joseph Forman with his family retired to 
Pleasant Valley, where the subject of this 
sketch was born. At an early age he evinced 
a strong desire for learning, in which he was 
encouraged by his friends. In the fall of 
1793, he entered Union College at Schenec- 
tady, and in due time graduated with honor. 
Directly after his collegiate course was com- 
pleted, he entered the law office of Peter 
W. Radcliffe, Esq., of Poughkeepsie, where 
he remained about two years. He then 
went to the city of New York, and completed 
his law studies in the office of Samuel Miles 
Hopkins, Esq. Soon after the close of his 





■">'/ 




Fra] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EIHA. 



425 



professional course, he was* married to Miss 
Margaret Alexander, a daughter of the Hon. 
Boyd Alexander, M.P. for Glasgow, Scot- 
land. In the spring of 1800, Mr. Forman 
removed to Onondaga Hollow, and opened 
a law office, where he began early to 
manifest his public spirit and enterprise. 
By his integrity and straightforward course 
in the practice of his profession, he soon 
became distinguished as a lawyer, and by 
his talents and gentlemanly deportment 
became familiarly known throughout the 
country. In 1803, William H. Sabin joined 
him as a partner in the practice of the law. 
In 1807, he was elected to the legislature, 
where he became prominent as the first pro- 
jector of the Erie Canal. In 1813, he was ap- 
pointed Judge of the Onondaga County Com- 
mon Pleas Court, a station he filled with credit 
and ability ten years. In 1807, he erected 
the first grist-mill on the Oswego River, 
which greatly facilitated the settlement of 
that region. In 1808, he founded the cele- 
brated Plaster Company at Camillus. In 
182 1, Judge Forman obtained the passage of 
a law authorizing the lowering of Onondaga 
Lake, and subsequently the lake was lowered 
about two feet, draining the unwholesome 
marshes and improving the lands about the 
lake. In 1822, he embarked in salt man- 
ufacturing, introducing the manufacture of 
solar salt. Judge Forman was emphatically 
the founder of the city of Syracuse. He laid 
out the centre of the city in 1818, and moved 
to that place in the year 1819, where he per- 
sisted in his efforts until lie had laid the 
broad and deep foundations of this flourish- 
ing city. After his work was accomplished, 
he in 1826 removed to New Jersey, near 
New Brunswick, where he superintended 
the opening and working of a copper mine. 
Soon after his departure, the State of New 



York became sadly deranged in its financial 
affairs. The banking system was extremely 
defective. At this crisis Judge Forman 
came forward with a plan for relief. At the 
request of Mr. Van Buren, then Governor, 
he spent the winter at Albany, drew up and 
perfected his bill, which was the Safety Fund 
act passed that winter. In 1829-30, Judge 
Forman and others bought from the State of 
North Carolina some 300,000 acres of land 
in Ruthfordton and other counties. He 
took up his residence at the village of Ruth- 
fordton, where he made great improvements, 
besides improving the mental and moral con- 
dition of the inhabitants. In 1831. after an 
absence of five years, Judge Forman visited 
Onondaga, where he received a public din- 
ner tendered by all the leading gentlemen of 
Syracuse. He was welcomed with unquali 
fied demonstrations of joy and respect. On 
his return to his home in North Carolina, 
while his health permitted, his business was 
principally that of making sales of the lands 
he had purchased. After visiting Syracuse 
once more in 1846, he retired to his mountain 
home, where he looked back upon a well- 
spent life, much of which was devoted to the 
service of his country, without regret. He 
died at the village of Ruthfordton, August 
4th, 1848, and his remains were removed to 
Syracuse, where they rest in the beautiful 
rural cemetery, Oakwood. 

For a fuller account of Judge Forman, see 
Clark's " Onondaga," " The Leavenworth 
Genealogy," and " Hosack's " Life of De 
Witt Clinton." 

Francis, John M., editor of the Troy 
Times, was born March 7th, 1823. His 
father was a native of Wales, and a man 
of extensive reading and great force of 
character. In 1798, he emigrated to the 



426 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Fra 



United States, and settled near Utica, from 
whence he removed to Prattsburg, Steuben 
County, then almost a wilderness region, 
and became one of the pioneers of West- 
ern New York. Here he engaged in ag- 
ricultural pursuits, and here the son, John 
M., was born. Young Francis enjoyed in 
his early years the limited advantages of the 
district-school, and was permitted to spend 
one winter at the village academy — this last 
privilege constituting all the academic instruc- 
tion he ever received. At the age of fourteen 
years, he became an apprentice to the trade 
of a printer, in the office of the Ontario Mes- 
senger, published at Canandaigua. This town 
was then the seat of considerable political in- 
fluence, and the young apprentice soon be- 
came not only an interested observer of events 
as they occurred, but a close student of political 
economy and a patient listener at the earnest 
discussions which took place between the 
many distinguished men of the village. At 
the age of nineteen, having completed 
his apprenticeship, he removed to Palmyra, 
in Wayne County, and began his first experi- 
ence as an editorial writer in the columns of 
the Wayne Sentinel. In 1845, he became the 
associate editor of the Rochester Daily Adver- 
tiser, and in 1846 took up his residence in 
Troy, where he connected himself with the 
Troy Budget as its editor, and subsequently 
as one of its proprietors. In the Hunker 
and Barnburner campaigns which succeeded, 
he distinguished himself as an advocate of 
free soil, free speech, and free men. He 
was the first editor to establish the home or 
city department — a feature which has since 
become so prominent in all journals. Brief 
connections with the Troy Whig and Post 
ensued; and in 1852 Mr. Francis began his 
great life-work in establishing his present 



journal — The Troy Daily Times — a paper 
of pre-eminent enterprise, ability, and influ- 
ence, and which has been correspondingly 
successful in the material elements of pros- 
perity. From 1852 to 1856, Mr. Francis was 
city clerk of Troy; in 1867, he was elected 
from the district composed of Rensselaer and 
Washington counties, to serve in the conven- 
tion to revise the constitution of New York 
State. While in that body, he delivered one 
speech evincing elaborate preparation (upon 
the government of cities), and took part in 
several debates. In 1869, he travelled ex- 
tensively in Europe, and in 1871 was ap- 
pointed United States Minister to Greece by 
President Grant. He made a popular and 
able representative abroad ; and his resigna- 
tion, two years later, was accepted with reluc- 
tance by the government. In 1875-6, Mr. 
Francis made a tour of the globe, writing a 
series of letters for his paper descriptive of his 
travels and of the foreign countries he visited, 
which were widely read and extensively 
copied by the press. As the editor of The 
Times, Mr. Francis has a national reputation. 
Few men are so well versed in public affairs 
or wield a readier and more skill ul pen. His 
observations abroad, combined with his ex- 
tensive reading, have enriched his mind, and 
given him broad and comprehensive views of 
subjects as they arise and require treatment 
at his hands. He is practically a self-made 
man ; and being still in the prime of life, with 
mental powers increasing rather than dimin- 
ishing, of a strong and robust constitution, 
and a judgment upon men and things that 
rarely errs, it may be predicted of him that, 
both as a journalist and as a public man, he 
can, if he shall choose, make for himself a 
conspicuous and honorable figure in the his- 
tory of the times. 





OL>%^Kj6GI^^ 



Fre — Gan] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCVCLOP/EDIA. 



431 



Frear, William H., was born in 
Coxsackie, N. Y., March 29th, 1841. His 
parents were in somewhat straitened cir- 
cumstances, but they afforded William fair 
educational advantages, which he zealously 
improved. He secured a situation in a coun- 
try store in his native village when sixteen years 
of age, and at the expiration of two years of 
faithful clerkship, entered into the service of 
John Flagg, then the leading merchant of 
Troy, N. Y. Young Frear continued a sales- 
man in Mr. Flagg's store for six years, during 
which period he mastered every detail of the 
dry goods trade, developed astonishing apti- 
tude for business, and won the unlimited con- 
fidence of his employer. In 1865, the am- 
bitious subject of this sketch, restive under 
the restraints incident to a subordinate posi- 
tion, took the kw hundred dollars he had 
saved from his earnings by an economy ap- 
proaching hardship, and embarked in mer- 
cantile life as the partner of Mr. Haverly, 
under the firm name of Haverly & Frear. 
They opened a small store in an unfavorable 
location; but the extraordinary energy of Mr. 
Frear bore fruit in sales aggregating $300,- 
000 during the three years' existence of the 
firm. In 1868, the firm of Haverly & Frear 
changed into Flagg, Haverly & Frear, with 
Mr. Frear as the managing partner; and the 
three rented the most central store in Troy, 
situated in the Cannon Place building. Mr. 
Haverly retired in 1869; in the following year 
a large cloak, shawl, and suit apartment was 
added; and in 1874 Mr. Frear became the 
sole proprietor — a distinction he still main- 
tains. As a practical illustration of the re- 
markable augmentation of his transactions 
since that time, it is only necessary to men- 
tion that he added a contiguous store to his 
dry goods house in April, 1875, and still 
another one, with an entrance on an adjoin- 



ing street, just one year later. Mr. Frear 
now controls a corps of fifty of the most ex- 
pert clerks in the city, all of whom are the 
fast friends of their employer. His annual 
sales approximate a million dollars, and it is 
no exaggeration to say that his mammoth 
place of business is the head centre of trade 
in Northern New York. In that entire sec- 
tion of the State there is no name seen or 
spoken so often as that of Frear. The ad- 
vertising columns of the newspapers teem 
with flaring announcements of Frear's bar- 
gains ; ferry-boats, street cars, ice-wagons, 
fences, bill-boards, stages, cards, circulars, 
posters, transparencies, and a multiplying 
army of patrons, unite in one grand chorus 
to proclaim Frear's low prices ; tremendous 
piles of dress-goods lining the sidewalk, and 
reaching heavenward, give ocular demonstra- 
tions of the magnitude of Frear's stock; 
lavish liberality and praiseworthy public-spir- 
itedness tell the story of Frear's flattering 
financial foundation ; and yet the busiest, 
most unassuming and genial man in Frear's 
famous store, is William H. Frear. His un- 
daunted genius, prodigious enterprise, and 
brilliant success compel universal admira- 
tion. He has no bad habits to block the 
pathway of prosperity, and his life presents 
to the struggling youth a striking example of 
what brains, self-denial, honesty, and enter- 
prise may accomplish. Although he has yet 
to reach the meridian of his career, William H. 
Frear is, to-day, the most powerful name in 
commercial circles north of the city of New 
York. 

Ganson, John, was born in Le Roy, 
Genesee County, N. Y., January 1st, 1819, 
and was of Dutch and Scotch descent. 

At the age of two, he lost his father, thus 
being left entirely to the care of his mother 



432 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Gar 



How well she discharged her duties, the ca- 
reer of the lamented son bears witness. His 
early education was looked after by her, and 
in 1838, at the age of nineteen, he was a 
graduate of Harvard University, and soon 
after commenced the study of law in the office 
of the distinguished firm of Sibley & Worden, 
of Canandaigua, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1842. 

He was married to the daughter of M. H. 
Sibley, who still survives him. 

He continued the practice of law in the 
office in which he had prosecuted his studies 
till 1846, in which year he came to Buffalo, 
where he resided till the time of his death. 
Immediately on arriving here, he went into 
partnership with E. G. Spaulding, with whom 
he remained associated about three years. 
From that time till January 1st, 1862, he 
practised his profession alone, when he formed 
a copartnership with James M. Smith, which 
continued till June, 1873, when Judge Smith 
was called to the bench. His last partner- 
ship was with E. R. Bacon, Esq. 

In 1862, Mr. Ganson was elected to the 
State Senate. In 1863, he was elected to 
Congress, and refused the nomination for a 
second term. In 1873, he was again elected 
to the State Senate, and was a member of the 
same at the time of his death, which occurred 
the 28th of September, 1874. 

He was a man of magnificent physique and 
noble bearing, a nobleman of nature, and a 
kindly, courteous gentleman always. And 
the loss of no one has been more severely felt 
through the whole community of this city for 
many years than that of John Ganson. 

Gardner, Hon. Hiram. — This eminent 
and distinguished jurist was born in Dutchess 
County, N. Y., February 9th, 1800. His 
parents were farmers of excellent character 



and intelligence, belonging to the society of 
Friends. While they felt a deep interest in 
the welfare of their son, and watched his 
early years with the utmost care, yet they un- 
fortunately could afford him but little finan- 
cial help in the pursuit of his studies. Con- 
sequently, thrown upon his own resources 
from the beginning to the end of his noble 
career, he was self-made. After pursuing an 
academical course as far as circumstances 
would permit, he entered himself as a student 
of law, and studied for about two years, when 
he removed to New York, and finished the 
course. In 182 1, he was admitted to the 
bar, and a year later commenced practice in 
the Supreme Court. In October (1822), 
he moved to Lockport, N. Y., where 
he resided till his death, which occurred 
March 13th, 1874. In 1823, he was ap- 
pointed to the office of Justice of the Peace ; 
in 1825, Associate Judge of the Court of 
Common Pleas; in 1827, Supreme Court 
Commissioner, and was admitted as a Master 
in Chancery. In 1831, he was appointed 
Surrogate, which office he resigned in 1836, 
that he might represent his district in the 
State Legislature, to which position he had 
already been elected. In 1845, he was elect- 
ed a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion which revised the second and framed 
the third State Constitution. In 1847, he 
was elected County Judge and Surrogate 
under the constitution he helped to frame. 
In 1858, he was elected Canal Commissioner. 
In the fall of 1868, he was appointed to the 
office of County Judge, to supply a vacancy, 
and in the following November (1869), he was 
elected to the same position for the term of 
four years. 

In enumerating these facts, the reader may 
realize how large a portion of his professional 
life was employed in the execution of duties 





^o^iX, 



"t 



Gre] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



435 



connected with public trusts, and how con- 
stantly and entirely he was confided in by his 
fellow-citizens. His conspicuous ability and 
talent were uniformly and successfully direct- 
ed to the elevation of the judicial office and of 
the legal profession. He was not a politician, 
but never shrank from what he considered 
his duty as an American citizen. His ideas 
of political purity, integrity, and honor were 
of the most elevated character, and though 
twenty-five of the fifty years spent as a prac- 
titioner he held public office, we can consci- 
entiously say he never sought, by word, act, 
or deed, any favors of this character. 

In December, 1873, the members of the bar 
of Niagara County held a meeting for the pur- 
pose of taking suitable action in reference to 
the final retirement of Hon. Hiram Gardner 
from the bench. Appropriate resolutions 
were adopted, and upon retiring they proceed- 
ed in a body to his residence, and were re- 
ceived by the judge in a most cordial man- 
ner. After a brief pause, the chairman of the 
meeting arose, and in a few touching remarks 
presented an engrossed copy of the same to 
the judge, who replied with deep emotion, 
thanking them for such a testimonial of con- 
fidence and esteem. The affair throughout 
was one which will linger long in the memory 
of those present. Few men ever retired from 
public life with so honorable and satisfactory 
a record as Judge Gardner. The ermine 
dropped from his shoulders as spotless as 
when its folds first graced the wearer. 

In his family his influence was delightful 
and all-pervading. In the church of God he 
1 was an ornament and a pillar of strength, re- 
flecting in his life the beauty and po.ver of 
Christianity. He was untiring in his labors 
for the welfare of the place where he resided, 
an ardent lover of his country, and did 
what he could for the elevation and purifica- 
7 



tion of humanity in its largest and most ex- 
tended sense. 

"He towered above his fellow-men as a majestic 

tree 
In some primeval forest rears its topmost 

branches free ; 
Raised up of God in kingly strength above the 

storm and strife, 
A landmark to the race, a type of Christian life " 

Greeley, Horace, was born in Am- 
herst, N. H., February 3d, 181 1. His fa- 
ther was a farmer in humble circumstances, 
and while yet a child Horace took an active 
part in the labor of the farm. It was his 
task to ride the horses to plough, to assist in 
the spring planting, to pick up stones from 
the field, and in the frosty autumn mornings 
to watch the oxen as they fed on the grass 
beside the corn-field before they were yoked 
up for their day's work. At an early age he 
gave tokens of remarkable intelligence and a 
singular love of learning. He could read 
before he was two years old, and had scarcely 
reached the age of ten before he had de- 
voured every book that he could borrow 
within seven miles of his father's house. 

His third winter was spent at the house 
of his maternal grandfather in Londonderry, 
where he atcended a district-school for the 
first time. He at once attracted notice by 
the excellence of his recitations, and espe- 
cially by his skill in spelling. When he was 
about ten years old, his father removed with 
the family to West Haven, Vt., where for about 
five years he was assisted by Horace in 
clearing up wild land and other severe man- 
ual labor. At the end of that time, in the 
spring of 1826, he became an apprentice to 
the printer of a weekly newspaper in East 
Poultney, Vt. This was a position winch he 
had long coveted, having early set his heart 
on following the trade of Benjamin Franklin. 



436 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



LGre 



He soon learned the art of setting type, and 
even before the first week was over, his skill 
was superior to that of many an apprentice 
who had been in practice a month. After 
remaining in this situation about four years, 
he had become master of the trade, and ren- 
dered valuable assistance in conducting the 
newspaper. In June, 1830, the paper was 
discontinued, and young Greeley, after spend- 
ing a few weeks with his parents, who had 
removed to Erie Co., Pa., obtained employ- 
ment in some of the printing-offices in that 
vicinity. The work was hard and the pay 
poor, and he at length made up his mind to 
seek his fortune in New York. He arrived 
in that city on August 17th, 1831, with only 
ten dollars in his pocket, and a scanty stock 
of clothing in his bundle. After much diffi- 
culty, he found employment as a journeyman 
printer. In this capacity he worked in sev- 
eral different offices until January 1st, 1833, 
when he entered into partnership with Fran- 
cis Story, and commenced the publication of 
the Morning Post, the first daily penny paper 
ever printed. The enterprise was unsuccess- 
ful, and the paper failed in about three weeks. 
The partnership, however, went on in the 
job-printing business until July, when it was 
dissolved by the sudden death of Mr. Story. 
His place was supplied by Mr. Jonas Win- 
chester, and on March 22d, 1834, the new 
firm issued the first number of the New 
Yorker, a weekly journal devoted to litera- 
ture, politics, and news. This was edited 
almost exclusively by Mr. Greeley, and pub- 
lished under his immediate supervision. It 
was considered at that time the best news- 
paper of its kind ever attempted in this 
country. In spite of its high character, it 
never gained financial success, and Mr. Gree- 
ley was obliged to engage his labors. He 
supplied the Daily Whig with its leading 



articles for some months, and in 1838 under- 
took the editorial charge of the yeffersonian, 
a political weekly newspaper, devoted to the 
interests of the Whig party, and published in 
the city of Albany. This journal, according 
to its original plan, continued in existence 
but one year, and in May, 1840, Mr. Greeley 
devoted himself to the editorship of the Log 
Cabin, a campaign journal established in the 
interest of Gen. W. H. Harrison, the Whig 
candidate for the presidency. It obtained a 
large circulation, but in the autumn of 1841, 
was merged, together with the New Yorker, 
in the Tribune, with which Mr. Greeley's 
name is completely identified, and for which 
his previous newspaper enterprises had served 
as a preparation. 

The first number of this celebrated journal 
was issued on April 10th, 1841. It wasa small 
sheet, retailing for one cent, with no presses, 
no capital, and with only 500 subscribers. 
For the first week, the expenses exceeded the 
income, but in the course of six months it 
was established on a sound financial basis, 
when Mr. Thomas McElrath became a part- 
ner and undertook the sole charge of the 
business of publication, leaving Mr. Greeley 
the exclusive care of the editorial department. 
In 1848, Mr. Greeley was elected to fill a 
vacancy as a member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives in the National Congress, and 
served in that body from December 1st of 
that year to March 4th, 1849. He took an 
active part against the abuses of the mileage 
system and in favor of the establishment of 
homesteads in the public lands. In 1 851, he 
visited Europe and served as one of the jurors 
of the World's Fair in the Crystal Palace in 
London. He also appeared before the par- 
liamentary committee on newspaper taxes, 
and gave full and important details concern- 
ing the newspaper press of this country. His 



Gre] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



437 



letters during his absence are among his most 
interesting productions. In 1855, he made a 
second visit to Europe, chiefly for the pur- 
pose of attending the French Exhibition, re- 
maining abroad about three months. In 1859, 
he made a journey across the plains to Cali- 
fornia, and was honored with a public recep- 
tion at Sacramento and San Francisco. After 
having exerted himself for the prevention of 
civil war between the South and the North, at 
the National Republican Convention which 
met in Chicago in May, i860, he took a de- 
cided stand in favor of its vigorous prosecution 
subsequent to the actual commencement of 
hostilities. In 1864, he made an attempt at 
reconciliation on a plan of adjustment pro- 
posed to President Lincoln, which proved un- 
successful. In the same year, Mr. Greeley 
was a presidential elector for the State of New 
York, and a delegate to the Loyalist Conven- 
tion at Philadelphia. Upon the close of the 
war in the spring of 1865, Mr. Greeley be- 
came a strenuous advocate for complete pa- 
cification based on the conditions of impartial 
suffrage and universal amnesty. In pursuance 
of this end, he consented to be one of the 
bondsmen for Mr. Jefferson Davis, the late 
President of the Confederacy, who was im- 
prisoned by the Federal Government on the 
charge of treason. In 1867, Mr. Greeley was 
a delegate to the New York State Convention 
for the revision of the Constitution, and in 
1869 was brought forward as a candidate for 
the office of State Comptroller, but was de- 
feated in the canvass. In 1870, he stood for 
Congress as a candidate for the Sixth New 
York district, and was again defeated, though 
receiving an exceptionally large number of 
votes. The Liberal Convention for the nomi- 
nation of a candidate for the presidency, 
which met in Cincinnati on May 1st, 1872, 
after the fifth ballot, gave a majority of votes 



for Mr. Greeley. He accepted the nomina- 
tion, and in the month of July following was 
nominated for the same office by the Demo- 
cratic Convention at Baltimore. He was thus 
presented to the country as the candidate of 
two great parties for the highest office in the 
government, and an impassioned contest en- 
sued ; and he lost the election by a large ma- 
jority. During the canvass, Mr. Greeley 
performed an incredible amount of mental 
and physical labor. He constantly spoke, 
and in all parts of the country, to numerous 
and eager audiences, frankly discussing the 
great questions at issue, and expressing his 
conviction with equal boldness and candor. 
His strong constitution at length became im- 
paired by excessive toil and intense excite- 
ment. The loss of his wife, who had been a 
hopeless invalid for many years, and upon 
whose death-bed he attended during the last 
week of the canvass, served to complete the 
fatal work. He was attacked with inflamma- 
tion of the brain, and sinking under the dis- 
ease, died on November 29th, at the residence 
of his physician, two or three miles from his 
own country-home at Chappaqua. 

In addition to his labors as a journalist and 
public speaker, Mr. Greeley was the author 
of several works, the principal of which are 
the following : " Hints towards Reforms" 
(1850); " Glances at Europe" (185 1); "His- 
tory of the Struggle for Slavery Extension" 
(1856); "Overland Journey to San Fran- 
cisco" (i860); "The American Conflict" 
(1864); "Recollections of a Busy Life" 
(1869). Mr. Greeley was also the writer of 
the sketch of Henry Clay and of other articles 
in the New American Cyclopaedia, and of 
the Confederate States, and several other 
valuable papers in " Johnson's Cyclopaedia," 
of which he was one of the original editors. 
The life of Mr. Greeley has been written by 



438 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[GRE 



James Parton (Boston, 1855 ; reviewed, 1868), 
and a memorial volume was issued by the 
Tribune Association in 1873. {George Ridley.) 

Green, Robert, was born in London- 
derry, Ireland, May 12th, 1821. His parents 
removed with him to Canada in his infancy 
and remained there three years. They then 
removed to Troy, N. Y., where he received 
a common-school education. At the age of 
twelve, he commenced to earn his own living 
at the trade of cabinet-making. At twenty- 
three, with a capital of not more than $100, 
saved from his wages and over-work, he com- 
menced business for himself in a small way. At 
first only a dealer in chairs, he enlarged his busi- 
ness by degrees to include general furniture 
and cabinet-making. In 1851, his place of 
business was burned with a loss that exceeded 
his insurance. He suffered loss by fire on two 
other occasions and in the great fire of 1862, 
lost store, factory, and home. Notwithstand- 
ing these repeated and severe discourage- 
ments, he continued business with great cour- 
age and energy. While his store was rebuilding, 
he occupied a small store on Congress street, 
and subsequently bought the premises on 
River street, still occupied by his business. 
In 1863, he built his fine residence, No. 72 
Fifth street, where his family still reside. 

His death occurred in February, 1877. 
Those who live to lament him may well 
find comfort and satisfaction in the memory 
of his manly, worthy, and blameless life, and 
the patient fortitude and resolution with which 
he met and overcame checks and hardships 
before which a weaker nature would have lost 
heart and given way. 

The charities of Mr. Green were as large 
as they were unostentatious. He had a kind 
heart, a liberal hand, and a genial temper, 
and has left behind him 1 name for excellence 



and honor in all the relations of life which 
will prove his enduring monument. 

Greene, W. K., was born at Woodstock, 
Ct., July 18th, 1816. He removed to 
Hagaman's Mills in 1838, and commenced 
the manufacture of carpets. In 1841, he 
moved to Amsterdam, where he continued the 
same business until 1847. He then went to 
Astoria, Long Island, where for one year he 
had charge of Higgins's carpet -mills. In 1848, 
j he moved to Schenectady, where he also re- 
mained one year, having charge of a carpet- 
mill owned by a stock company of which he 
was a member. In 1849, he sold out his in- 
terest there, and returned to Amsterdam, where 
he continued to reside until his death. On his 
return there, he again embarked in the manu- 
facture of carpets, and carried on the same 
successfully until the year i860, when he sold 
his carpet looms and machinery, and instead 
put in knitting machinery for the manufacture 
of knit wrappers, drawers, and jackets. He 
continued in this branch of manufacture until 
his death, at which time he was running 13 
sets of cards and employing some 300 hands. 
He was always a successful business man, and 
amassed a large fortune. In July, 1869, he 
went to Europe, hoping to regain his health, 
which had become seriously impaired. His 
family consulted the best of foreign physicians, 
but they were unable to do any thing for him, 
and he finally died at Rome, Italy, Jan. 23d, 
1870, in the 54th year of his age. His re- 
mains were embalmed and brought to his 
home in Amsterdam,and now rest there among 
his kindred in the beautiful Green Hill Ceme- 
tery. His virtues were many. Few personal 
pleas for help fell upon his ear unheard or 
unanswered. He dispensed his charities with 
liberality while living, and without ostentation. 
His position in life and his fortune were of his 







T- 




Ctv^ 







-\\- 












a~7 




<ZZ<? &-r~3rvry~C 



X-c 





" 




'C^ 




Hab — Aga] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



447 



own creation. By untiring industry, strict 
economy, and close attention to business, he 
attained reputation and social position, which 
will live as a monument to his proud char- 
acter. 

Haberstro, Joseph Lambert.— Who- 
ever achieves fortune and social position by 
his own efforts, and preserves at the same time 
an unblemished reputation, is a credit to any 
community, and is a safe example and guide 
to succeeding generations. The subject ol this 
sketch was born in Buffalo, on the 27 th of 
July, 1 83 1. His parents, Joseph and Catha- 
rine M. Haberstro, were natives of Alsace, 
and came to this country in 1828. His fath- 
er was a gunsmith by trade, and followed this 
occupation in Buffalo till 1845, when he 
commenced merchandising, which he carried 
on successfully for many years, and died much 
respected in 1862, his wife surviving him 
twelve years. 

Joseph Lambert Haberstro received only a 
common-school education, and at the age of 
thirteen left his studies to learn his father's 
trade, continuing at the same till 1847, 
when he joined his father in the mercantile 
business, following the same till 1859. At the 
age of twenty-two, in 1853, and while in mer- 
chandising, Mr. Haberstro was married to 
Miss Barbara Scheu, daughter of Philip Scheu, 
by whom he has had ten children. In 1859, 
Mr. Haberstro commenced the business of 
brewer and maltster, which he still follows. 
The business career of Mr. Haberstro in this 
city has been a most successful one. His bus- 
iness talents, industry, and energy, which have 
never wavered from the proper direction, 
would have made him partially successful in 
any place ; but in Buffalo, where there was 
such an ample field for their development, 
Mr. Haberstro has reached a position in the 



business world which must satisfy all his as- 
pirations, and in said career he has made many 
friends, the result of successful enterpr^e and 
exalted merit. In 1864, he was elected to his 
first political office, that of alderman ; and in 
1866 was re-elected, thus serving four years 
in that capacity. During the second term of his 
service, he was president of the council, and was 
also acting mayor of the city. How well he 
filled these positions, was best acknowledged 
by the fact that, in 1867, he was elected City 
Treasurer, and, in reward for his faithful ser- 
vices, was again elected in 1869, thus having 
the honor of being the first gentleman who 
held the office for four years since Buffalo 
became a city. This did not end his official 
career and usefulness, for his name was a 
tower of strength to his party in the election 
of 1876; and at that time he was cho- 
sen sheriff, which position he now holds, and 
his devotion to his official trusts has won for 
him the general respect of the community in 
which he lives. 

No man occupies a more enviable position 
in the community of which he is a member, 
nor more clearly exemplifies the legitimate 
result of well-directed energy, industry, and 
thoroughness of purpose. 

Agan, Patrick H.— The subject of this 
sketch was born at Watertown, N. Y., in 
the year 181 7. In 1826, both his parents 
died, leaving a large family of children with- 
out adequate means of support. The house- 
hold was consequently broken up and scatter- 
ed—Patrick finding a refuge and home in a 
good family a few miles distant. Here he re- 
mained seven years, attending a country school 
in winter for three years, and a village school 
the remaining four winters. His studies were 
confined to the rudimentary branches. At 
sixteen, he was offered a clerkship in a store 



44* 



BI< IGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[HAR 



at Liverpool, Onondaga County, and gladly 
accepted the situation. In 1836, he went to 
Detroit, Mich., intending to remain there, but 
returned in i< v 37. Soon afterward he en- 
gaged in trade in a small way, and continued 
in business for six years. In 1846, he pur- 
chased a half interest in the Onondaga 
Standard, and then moved to Syracuse. 
This paper remained under his editorial 
management for more than twenty years. In 
1850, the Syracuse Daily Standard was estab- 
lished, under his management also. In 1856, 
he sold His interest in these two papers, but 
continued his editorial work ten years longer. 
During these twenty years, the slavery ques- 
tion became the paramount issue in our pol- 
itics. Although the Standard was the Demo- 
cratic " organ " of the county, Mr. Agan ear- 
nestly advocated the adoption of the " Wil- 
mot Proviso," opposing the election of General 
Cass in 1848, by reason of the party's hostil- 
ity to that measure. For the same reason 
he refused to support Mr. Buchanan in 1856. 
In 1860-64, he favored Mr. Lincoln's election 
to the presidency. Mr. Agan was always 
the foe of legislative subsidies and of govern- 
mental aid to internal improvements. He 
also earnestly advocated free-trade doctrines, 
believing " Protection" to be grounded in 
selfishness and a device for robbery. In 
.State affairs he was for confining legislation to 
general objects and within constitutional lim- 
itations, favoring the repeal of the usury and 
inspection laws, and opposing all attempts to 
enforce morality through legal restraints and 
penalties. He likewise urged the sale of the 
Canals and their relinquishment by the State, 
as a measure of relief to the treasury, and as 
the only sure method of eradicating corruption 
in their management. In 1866, differing from 
the Republican party in its Southern policy, 
Mr. Agan withdrew from the Standard and 



from editorial life. In 1855, Mr. Agan was 
nominated on the Democratic ticket for the 
office of Inspector of State Prisons, but was de- 
feated with all his associates. In 1857, he was 
elected County Treasurer, and served one term. 
In 1 861, he was appointed Postmaster at Syra- 
cuse, and served four years in that office. 
From 1850 to 1856, he was clerk of the Board 

i of Supervisors of Onondaga County. Mr. 
Agan was the earliest advocate of the Syra- 

j cuse Northern Railway enterprise, and devot- 

| ed much time and labor in promoting its suc- 
cess, having been secretary of the company 
from the outset until after the road was com- 
pleted. He was also the first to suggest the 

1 conversion of the Adirondack wilderness into 
a State Park — a measure that has received the 
public sanction, and although still delayed in 
its consummation, is in a fair way of ultimate 
accomplishment. 

Hardin, George A. — This distinguish- 
ed jurist, the son of Col. Joseph and Amanda 
Backus Hardin, was born August 17th, 1832, 
in the town of Winfield, Herkimer County, 
N. Y. He received a preparatory education 
at Cazenovia and Whitestone seminaries 
before entering Union College, from which 
place he graduated with honors in 1852. He 
completed his law studies with J. N. Lake and 
the late Judge Xolton, pre-eminent in that part 
of the State for their great learning in the law, 
of which they gave their student the benefit, 
inspiring him with a portion of their zeal for 
the profession. He was admitted to the bar 
at Watertown, N. Y., July 4th, 1854, and soon 
after formed a law partnership with Judge 
Nolton. Filled with honorable emulation 
and a fair field before him, it was not long 
before he became known as a rising man in 
his profession. Fortunately he received all 
the adventitious assistance of thorough train- 




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i;K (GRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



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ing in mental exercise previous to commencing 
the study of the law; and when he had mas- 
tered his profession, he possessed an untold 
advantage over those who had been deprived 
of a suitable preparatory education. 

In 1858, he was appointed by Governor 
King district-attorney of Herkimer County, 
elected the same year, and filled the position 
until January 1st, 1862; when, having been 
elected by the Union Republican party, he 
took his position and entered the State Senate, 
representing the Twentieth district, Herkimer 
and Otsego counties. At the close of the ses- 
sion in 1863, he returned to the practice of the 
law, which he continued until 187 1, when he 
was, by both Republican and Democratic par- 
ties, nominated and elected Justice of the Su- 
preme Court for the Fifth Judicial District for 
the term of fourteen years. The nomination by 
both political parties was a marked testimonial 
to his standing, and he has ever endeavored 
to discharge the judicial duties so as to merit 
the partiality and kindness shown him by the 
people and the very able bar of his district* 
He has been a stirring, practical man both in 
his public and his private life. He has done 
much, and all honorably, and studiously en- 
deavored to discharge the duties imposed on 
him in every public position he has held. In 
the community in which he lives, he enjoys 
the entire confidence of all who know him, 
regardless of party or condition, as one of the 
purest of men, reliable in every respect, though 
modest and retiring, passing for less than his 
real worth. A man of good attainments, 
which are sound and substantial. 

Harper, Fletcher, senior member of the 
firm of Harper & Brothers, publishers, died May 
29th, 1877. He was the youngest of the four 

*In 1876, Hamilton College conferred on him 
the degree of LL.D. 



brothers who founded and brought to great 
and deserved eminence the publishing house 
of Harper & Brothers, and was the last survivor 
of the four. James, the oldest of the four, was 
born in 1795; John, in 1797; Wesley, in 1801; 
and Fletcher, in 1806. Wesley Harper was 
apprenticed to his brothers after they had set 
up in business ; and some years later, Fletcher 
also became an apprentice. When the two 
younger brothers had " worked out their time," 
they purchased a share in the business, 
Wesley in 1823, and Fletcher in 1826. There- 
upon the firm became Harper & Brothers. 
For some years, and while the business was 
growing, Wesley, who had a cultivated litera- 
ry taste and wrote all his life remarkably pure 
and vigorous English, was the proof-reader 
of the firm, and Fletcher was foreman of 
the composing-room ; and tradition relates 
that he was a very energetic and driving 
foreman. 

The four brothers worked together all their 
lives with singular unanimity. They adopted 
a rule early in life never to enter on any enter- 
prise unless all four were agreed to it, and to 
this they adhered constantly, and to it they 
doubtless owed their safety in many instances 
as business men. It is related that the estab- 
lishment of Harpers Magazine was due to 
him. 

The success of the Magazine, which is one 
of the greatest known in literary annals, so 
completely justified his judgment that his 
predominant influence in the firm was estab- 
lished from that time. This was in 1850. In 
1853, the great fire consumed, in a day, their 
whole stock, and inflicted on them a loss of 
over a million of dollars. Then the energy 
of these printers was shown. They held, on 
the evening of the fire, a family council, to 
decide whether or not they should rebuild 
their business. They had already so great 



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[Har 



wealth that their loss, so far from crippling 
them, left them with a competence for them- 
selves and their children. But the claims of 
authors, of workmen who had been long with 
them, and the desire to leave a well-establish- 
ed business to their children, induced them 
to determine to go on. An order on Adams, 
of South Boston, for twenty of his new power 
presses, to replace those destroyed by the fire, 
was telegraphed the same day, thus antici- 
pating by a few hours applications by mail 
from other enterprising printers for a similar 
number of presses. By this prompt and 
characteristic action the Harpers were enabled 
to furnish their new office with presses several 
months sooner than they could have done 
had they sent their order by mail instead of 
telegraph. It is said that the whole question 
was discussed and decided at this family council 
the evening after the fire, and. the next week 
already plans began to be considered by the 
firm for a new building. Of course, the busi- 
ness was temporarily carried on in another 
place. The new building, it was determined, 
should be fireproof, as it is. 

Fletcher Harper was for many years the 
most active of the four brothers. He bore 
the heaviest burdens, and bore them easily. 
He possessed a cheerful and buoyant temper, 
unfailing courage, and was always an admir- 
able administrator. It was his thought which, 
in 1856, established Harper's Weekly, and in 
1867, the Bazar, both which he made emi- 
nently successful. Though he had, of course, 
proper assistants, and trained one of his sons 
and one of his nephews in this department, he 
was for many years the active and chief 
editor of these publications, and especially of 
the Magazine. He always, with characteris- 
tic modesty, asserted himself to be without 
the qualifications necessary to enable him to 
judge of the literary merits of a book or an 



article, but his taste and judgment, and the 
quick tact with which he saw what would 
take with the public, were unerring. 

In person Mr. Harper was tall, well formed, 
of light complexion, with blue eyes, and with 
a very noble head, full of intelligence and 
power. He was always, in business and 
socially, easily accessible to the humblest 
people, and his kind and winning manners 
set people quickly at ease. Like all the 
brothers, he took a kindly and affectionate 
interest in those who served him, and he will 
be missed and mourned by very many who 
have grown gray in the service of the house, 
and who always found in him a considerate 
friend ready to be helpful to them in distress 
and to show himself their friend as well as 
employer. In all the relations of life he was 
an eminently benevolent and humane man, 
whose pleasure was to make others happy, 
and who sought out by preference the friend- 
less and lowly. His love of retirement and a 
modesty which amounted almost to shyness 
led him to keep himself from all public or 
conspicuous positions and to conceal his 
many deeds of charity from the world. He 
was most happy in his home, where he was 
surrounded by his children and grandchildren, 
and latterly his great grandchildren, and 
vvhtre his chosen friends were always wel- 
come. 

Mr. Harper's health began to fail several 
years ago. The death of his brother Wesley, 
to whom he was very fondly attached, was a 
great shock to him. As the brothers one 
after another died, he seemed to feel the 
growing loneliness of his position, and while 
he remained always cheerful, his health was 
evidently shaken. A great fondness for 
country life grew upon him in his later years, 
and he prolonged his stay at his country 
place on the Hudson each year, with greater 



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453 



satisfaction to himself and with evident bene- 
fit to his health. {New York Herald.) 

Harper, James, was bom at Newtown, 
Long Island, in this State, during the year 
1795. His father being a respectable farmer 
of that place, he received as good an educa- 
tion as the locality afforded, remaining at the 
paternal home until he had reached his six- 
teenth year, when he, together with his 
brother John, was sent to this city and ap- 
prenticed to a printer. The trade was learned 
with great rapidity, the lad not being engaged 
many months in the business before he had 
become an excellent compositor. Sober, 
steady, economical, and hard-working, he con- 
trived during his apprenticeship, by means 
principally of over-work, to save some few 
hundred dollars, as was also done by his 
brother John, who possessed all the excellent 
qualifications so marked in the deceased, and 
whose life has been so bound up with that of 
his brother that we can scarcely write an obitu- 
ary of the one without giving a biographical 
sketch of the other. At about the same date, 
their obligations as apprentices ceased, and 
they became free to select their future life. 
With the monev saved, to which we have al- 
ready made reference, they opened a printing 
establishment in New York. Soon after, Wes- 
ley and Fletcher Harper, younger brothers 
of the deceased, were apprenticed to the 
firm, which was then and for some years after 
known by the name of J. & J. Harper. The 
business prospered exceedingly, and in a short 
time the proprietors began publishing books 
on their own account. In 1822, Wesley Har 
per was admitted to partnership, and from 
thenceforward to the present writing the firm 
has been known as that of Harper & Brothers. 
It is unnecessary to go into particulars of the 

high position which Mr. James Harper attained 
8 



as the senior proprietor of one of the largest 
publishing houses in the world. The wide- 
spread reputation of the Harpers, the count- 
less books they have published, and their 
pecuniary wealth, are subjects of common 
knowledge to the reader. 

The deceased gentleman at one time took 
an active part in politics, and in 1844 was 
elected Mayor of the city of New York, but 
was defeated for the same position at the 
election held the year following. His admin- 
istration, though devoid of any remarkable 
events, was, nevertheless, successful, and in- 
creased the respect and estimation in which 
he was held by the citizens generally. After 
1845, he sought no political office, his exten- 
sive and constantly increasing business re- 
quiring his undivided care and attention. As a 
publisher, he was noted for the earnestness 
with which he endeavored to elevate the stand- 
ard of American literature, and the encour- 
agement he ever gave to native talent. 

The fact, too, that his firm was the first in 
the United States that published a periodical 
composed almost entirely of American com- 
position, and which has won a world reputa- 
tion, is to no small extent attributable to his 
keen business sagacity and literary talent. 

Although he had reached the ripe age of 
seventy-three, Mr. Harper remained in active 
business life until the day of the fatal acci- 
dent which has ended his earthly career. It 
was remarked not long ago, that notwith- 
standing his age there was " no youth in the 
establishment more active than he." 

He was always in hale, robust health, his 
mental faculties were as bright as those of a 
younger man, and it was often observed that, 
if personal appearances were to be judged by, 
he was likely to outlive his brothers who were 
younger than he. Personally he was a high- 
toned gentleman, generous, charitable, a firm 



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[Har 



friend and a warm-hearted, sociable man. He 
delighted in the society of the vivacious and 
entertaining, loved a good story and a good 
joke, and was as clever at relating as he was 
attentive in hearing. Whether as a public 
character, as a friend and patron of literature, 
or as a man of high social standing and 
domestic virtues, he was such a citizen as 
would necessarily and naturally gather 
around him the friendship and esteem of all. 
He died March 17th, 1869. 

Harper, John, of the well-known pub- 
lishing firm of Harper & Brothers, was a 
son of Joseph Harper, whose occupation was 
that of a builder, and was born and reared 
on a farm in the vicinity of what is now 
known as Newtown, Long Island. His 
father was a man of sound common sense, 
a pious member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and to which the son has always 
adhered. John Harper was indentured ap- 
prentice to the printing business by his 
father when he was of proper age. Early 
in the summer of 1817, having just finished 
his term of apprenticeship at the printing 
trade, he, together with his brother, opened a 
modest printing-office in the second story of 
a small wooden house on the corner of Front 
and Dover streets, in New York City. When 
this little establishment was announced to the 
public, the business of printing books was in its 
infancy in this country, and the venture of 
these young men was looked upon as almost 
desperate. By great energy and industry, how- 
ever, the firm prospered from the first. In a 
few years, they found their quarters too limit- 
ed, and removed to another building in Ful- 
ton street, near Broadway. In 1&23, a 
younger brother, Mr. Joseph Wesley Harper, 
who had learned his trade of them, was 
given an interest in the house. In 1825, they 



removed again to Pearl street, near Franklin 
Square, and shortly after to Cliff street, where 
they purchased two small buildings and ma- 
terially extended their business. In 1826, 
another brother, Mr. Fletcher Harper, was 
admitted to partnership, and the style of 
the firm was changed from J. & J. Harper 
to Harper & Brothers. This was the origin 
of what is now the largest book publish- 
ing firm in the world. On the 10th of 
December, 1853, a fire occurred in the 
buildings occupied by Harper & Brothers, 
through the carelessness of a plumber, and 
property to the amount of $1,000,000 was 
destroyed. With their characteristic energy, 
they immediately determined upon rebuilding 
their establishment upon a scale which would 
have staggered the most prosperous commer- 
cial house. The new buildings were finished 
in 1855, and are the same which are now oc- 
cupied by the firm. On the 25th of March, 
1869, Mr. James Harper visited the store for 
the last time. On this occasion he was in his 
usual health and appeared to be possessed of 
unusually good spirits; he left the establish- 
ment at an early hour, and, as was his usual 
custom, went to ride in Central Park. By an 
accident he was thrown from his carriage, and 
received injuries from which he died two 
days afterward. His brother, Joseph Wesley 
Harper, became so afflicted at the demise of 
his elder brother, that he took sick and rap- 
idly failed in health, and died on the 14th of 
February, 1870. After the death of his two 
brothers, John Harper withdrew from active 
business, and the firm was reorganized by the 
admission of several sons of the original part- 
ners. These, after receiving a careful educa- 
tion, several of them at Columbia College, 
entered the house, each serving a regular ap- 
prenticeship in some branch of the busi- 
ness. Mr. John Harper had been in very 



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455 



delicate health for upward of a year before 
his death, which occurred April 2 2d, 1875. 
The last occasion of his being seen in public 
was during the latter part of the month of 
May, 1874, when he indulged, at the advice of 
his physician, in a ride through Central Park. 

Harper, Joseph Wesley, was born in 
Newtown, L. I., in 1801. Early in the cen- 
tury the firm, which now stands second to 
none in the United States, was founded. In 
1822, the subject of this sketch was admitted 
to partnership. From the start he displayed 
great business capacity. His literary taste 
was pure and elevated ; all the books select- 
ed by him for publication meeting, it is said, 
with marked success. And not only in choice 
of literature did he contribute to the advance- 
ment of his firm. When he became a partner, 
the establishment was by no means what it 
now is. At one time he performed the 
duties of foreman of the composing-room. 
In his intercourse with printers he met some 
disreputable characters on whom kindness 
would have been utterly lost. But excepting 
these, he always referred to his career as head 
of the composing-room, as being most pleas- 
ant. While maintaining strictest discipline, 
he succeeded in winning the friendship of all 
whose good opinion was worth having. At a 
later period than that referred to above, he 
took the position of proof-reader, but did 
not hold it a very long while. The firm had 
by this time increased its business greatly, 
and had already achieved an enviable repu- 
tation throughout the United States. On 
Mr. Wesley Harper devolved all the literary 
work of the establishment. Although he had 
not enjoyed the advantages of a collegiate 
education, his reading was extensive and 
varied He had cultivated a close acquaint- 
ance with English literature, and was conver- 



sant with all of continental literature that was 
of service to his business. His style of writ- 
ing was finished though simple and unaffect- 
ed ; many of the prefaces in the works com- 
prising the old Family Library were written by 
him, and are noteworthy for their compact- 
ness of expression. Mr. Harper, however, 
did not write much at any time, and as years 
passed on, he wrote less and less. A large 
number of the works submitted to the firm 
for publication were read by him, and his 
critical judgment was always found correct. 
To his credit be it said, neither prejudice for 
or against an author determined his decision. 
Every manuscript read by him was weighed 
according to its merits, and the rigid impar- 
tiality with which he acted, added to the 
soundness of his judgment, naturally enabled 
him to exercise a preponderating influence in 
the choice of books published by his house. 
For many years he was the real conductor of 
Harper's Magazine, but few articles appear- 
ing that had not been examined and approved 
by him. Mr. Harper also conducted the lit- 
erary correspondence of the firm until his eld- 
est son was admitted to the business, when 
he transferred this arduous duty to him. His 
letters to authors were always worded in a 
spirit of kindness that charmed the reader. 
To the unfortunate writer whose book had 
been declined, he even extended hearty 
sympathy, and did not fail, if the production 
exhibited marks of ability, to encourage him 
to persevere. Except as a publisher and 
literary gentleman, Mr. Wesley Harper was 
not known to the public. Indeed, his elder 
brother, the late James Harper, was and has 
been the only member of the firm that ever 
received the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, 
and even then the office was not sought after. 
Aside from his business character, there was 
much in Mr. Harper's private life to admire. 



456 



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[Har 



Personally he was modest to shyness. Quiet, 
unassuming, a model of gentlemanly courte- 
sy, and ever mindful of the feelings of others, 
he was never known to utter language to 
others that could aggrieve or wound. He 
belonged to what is called the " old school" 
of gentlemen. His suavity of manners and 
thoughtful consideration for others, endeared 
him to all the employes of Harper & Bro- 
thers, as well as to his immediate relatives. 
To those in trouble he ever lent a ready ear, 
and was willing to aid the poor and unfortu- 
nate with his money and with personal at- 
tention, if this last was needed. He took a 
warm interest in the welfare and comfort of 
his subordinates, to whom he was always ac- 
cessible, and who found in him a ready friend 
and adviser. For some years Mr. Harper 
had been suffering from the disease which 
ended his earthly career of usefulness. The 
physical sufferings that embitter some men's 
temper were endured by him with a calm and 
serene resignation. He had been, during the 
greater part of his life, a prominent member 
and officer of the Sands street Methodist 
church in Brooklyn, and was noted for his 
sincere devotion to the tenets of Christianity. 
Strong in his faith of a future full of light and 
love in a better world above, he met death 
undismayed. 

Hart, Elizur, was born in Durham, 
Greene Co., N. Y., May 2 2d, 1803. His 
father, Deacon Joseph Hart, removed to 
Seneca County, N. Y., in 1806, and to Barre, 
( Means Co., in October, 181 2. It was several 
years after he removed to Barre, before any 
school was opened in his father's neighbor- 
hood, and he never had the benefit of much 
instruction in school. During his early life, 
he was employed mainly in clearing up land 
and in labor on the farm. About the year 



1827, he was elected constable, an office he 
held two years. His business now called him 
to spend much of his time in Albion. He 
had some money, and his brother William had 
a like sum, which he put into Elizur's hands 
for their joint benefit. He then commenced 
a small brokerage business. About this time, 
his father deeded to his sons, William and 
Elizur, each 100 acres of land, for which they 
paid him $500. After some time, Elizur sold 
his interest to his brother William. As Mr. 
Hart found his means increasing, he began to 
invest in bonds and mortgages and in articles 
for land issued by the Holland Company. 

On February 10th, i860, in company with 
Mr. Joseph M. Cornell, he established the Or- 
leans County Bank, at Albion, with a capital of 
$100,000. Of this bank he was president as 
long as it existed. It was changed to Orleans 
County National Bank August 9th, 1865, he 
being its president the remainder of his life. 

Always attentive to business and never 
dilatory or impulsive, correct and exemplary 
in all his habits, beginning with comparatively 
nothing, without the aid or influence of 
wealthy connections, he became one of the 
opulent county bankers of the State, and at 
his death, which occurred August 13th, 1870, 
was master of a large fortune. 

In his will he gave the Presbyterian church 
in Albion, of which he was a member, fifty 
thousand dollars to build a house of worship, 
and an endowment of five thousand dollars 
to the Sunday-school connected with his 
church. Mr. Hart married Miss Loraine 
Field in May, 1835, by whom he had three 
children. She died February nth, 1847. 
He was again married to Miss Cornelia King 
October 1 6th, 1849. 

Harvey, Charles W. — The subject of 
this sketch was born in Albany, N. Y., in 





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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



461 



1810. In early life he received both aca- ( 
demic and collegiate education in the Albany 
Academy, Lafayette and Union Colleges. 
He studied medicine in the office of the late 
Dr. Jonathan Eights, of Albany, and gradu- 
ated in medicine in the Medical Department 
(jf the University of Buffalo. Later in life, 
he received the degree of Master of Arts from 
Lafayette College, and the honorary degree 
of Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Balti- 
more Dental College. He practised both 
medicine and dentistry in Albany until 1836, 
when he moved to Buffalo, N. Y., and there 
devoted himself exclusively to the latter pro- 
fession until 1872, when he retired to private 
life. Among the eminent citizens of Buffalo 
who have for the past forty years been 
honored and esteemed both at home and 
abroad, no one is more sincerely beloved and 
respected in all the relations of life than Dr. 
C. W. Harvey. He is a man of firmness of 
character, though modest and unassuming in 
his manners, enjoying the confidence and 
respect of all who know him. He is both 
confiding and generous. One of the effective 
attributes of his popularity is the purity of his 
character. It is this which has given him the 
esteem of all men and the unbounded confi- 
dence of his patients. 



Hayes, George E., D.D.S.— The sub- 
ject of this sketch has been a practising dentist 
in the city of Buffalo for the last forty-eight 
years. When he settled there, it was but a vil- 
lage of 5000 inhabitants. He has witnessed 
its continuous growth in population, wealth, 
and refinement. 

He is the son of Simeon Hayes and Betsey 
Gilbert, of Granby, Ct. ; was born there, No- 
vember 7th, 1804, in the family residence 
built by his great grandfather. The family 



trace descent from George Hayes, who emi- 
grated to this country from Scotland, in 1650, 
and settled finally in the village of Salmon 
Brook, Granby, Hartford Co., Ct. In 1805, 
his parents removed to Prattsburg, N. Y., 
where they shared the labor of clearing the 
forests and laying the foundations of an intel- 
ligent Christian community. In those days it 
was deemed fortunate if settlers could secure 
the privilege of district-schools for their 
children, and with the exception, at a later 
period, of a few months' attendance at the 
Canandaigua Academy, they were his early 
aids in the way of education. 

In 1820, he became a student in the office 
of Dr. Pliny Hayes, of Canandaigua, intend- 
ing to prepare for the medical profession ; but 
was induced in 1825 to accept the offer of 
a partnership with him, in the sale of drugs 
and medicines. In 1829, this establishment 
was removed to Buffalo, where, in the fall of 
that year, it was burned, on the site now occu- 
pied by Townsend Hall. 

While a student with Dr. Hayes, he had 
learned what little was then known of dentis- 
try ; and it so happened that when he moved 
to Buffalo, there was then no one there who 
answered to that calling ; and it also happened 
that the ex-sheriff of London, Parkinson, was 
there, and had the misfortune to break a front 
tooth. It happened also that a former resi- 
dent of Canandaigua, who thought the 
Hayeses could do any thing, sent him over the 
way for relief. Thus it fell out, that the fire- 
fiend, aided by the gratitude and good-will of 
Parkinson, more than the foresight of the 
subject of this essay, caused a revolution in 
his business pursuits through life. 

He was first married to Emily M. Hopkins, 
Dec. 27th, 1827, to whom were born sons 
and daughters, but one of whom survive, 
Harriet L., who married the Rev. Charles H. 



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[Hea 



Smith. He was again married Sept. 1st, 1858, 
to Catharine Bradt. 

In 1834-35 and 1836, he engaged in real 
estate transactions, some of which shared the 
fate of the speculations of 1837; but others 
enabled him to weather the financial storm 
of that year and keep his escutcheon untar- 
nished. 

He was one of the founders of the Young 
Men's Association, and its second president. 
Also a life-member of the Society of Natural 
Sciences, and a member of the Buffalo His- 
torical Society. While he had little leisure to 
spare from business pursuits, his tastes tended 
to scientific studies, and to gratify those fancies 
he spent the summer of 1837 at New Haven, 
in the study of geology, mineralogy, etc., 
under the direction of Professors Benjamin 
Silliman and Charles N. Shepard, with the 
privilege of attending their summer course of 
lectures on natural history. 

He was the first to make and use the 
enamelled gum teeth, colored with oxide of 
gold, to resemble the natural gum, and was 
also the inventor of improvements in vulcan- 
izers, and other instruments for dental use, 
which had a wide sale, not only here, but in 
Europe and South America, and which finally 
resulted in the organization known as the 
Buffalo Dental Manufacturing Company. 

Heacock, W. J., was born at Kings- 
borough, Fulton County, N. Y., April 5th, 
182 1. In early life he received a common- 
school education, attending for a few winters 
only, being prevented by delicate health, 
which he did not overcome until twenty years 
of age. His first business experience was in 
the dry goods trade in his native village 
When twenty-four, he commenced the manu- 
facture of gloves, which he continued suc- 
cessfully for several years, and was among 



the largest in the business. He was the 
founder of the Fonda, Johnstown, and Glo- 
versville Railroad, its first and only presi- 
dent. It is mainly due to his exertions that 
the road was ever built. The same may 
be said in regard to the Gloversville and 
Northville Railroad, of which he is also presi- 
dent. He is also director in the Fulton 
County Coal Company. Twice he lias served 
in the State Assembly. During the first term 
(1863), he was chairman of the Traders and 
Manufacturers' Committee, and in 1873 was 
chairman of the Railroad Committee. He was 
married February nth, 1845, to Miss Mi- 
nerva M. Avery, daughter of Rev. R. A. 
Avery, of Gal way, Saratoga County, N. Y., 
by whom he has had four children, three of 
whom survive. At the breaking out of the 
war, Mr. W. J. Heacock was chairman of the 
county committee that raised the funds and 
troops for the Union. He also spent nearly 
two winters in Washington, looking after the 
interests of the glove manufacturers and ad- 
justing properly the taxation which is applied 
in this country. We need scarcely say he 
was very successful and earned well the praise 
that the manufacturers bestowed upon him. 
Mr. Heacock lived at Kingsborough when the 
division in the old Congregational church 
took place, ard the major part of the influen- 
tial members left to form the present church 
at Gloversville. It was only by great efforts on 
the part of Mr. Heacock that the church was 
saved from financial ruin. In 1861, he moved 
his residence to Gloversville ; and in 1864, 
there being no Presbyterian church in the 
village, Mr. Heacock, by his warm support 
and liberal subscription, was the main mover 
in having the new First Presbyterian church 
erected, one of the most beautiful edifices in 
this section. He has been one of the trus- 
tees since its erection, a member of the session 



W-- 









!^t 6.^0- -& 








y^^z^J^c^A^ 










■- ■ 



Hea — Hed] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



469 



and superintendent of the Sabbath-school, 
excepting one year. He is at present actively 
engaged in managing the railroads of which 
he is the honored president, and which under 
his executive have proved successful from their 
commencement. Within the memory of Mr. 
Heacock, Gloversville has grown from a mere 
hamlet with the country school-house upon 
the main corner, surrounded with pine trees, 
to its present proportions and importance, 
through the development of the glove indus- 
try, which commenced in its primary state 
from the fact the woods in those days abounded 
in deer, and the first settlers being mostly ped- 
dlers of tinware, took the hides in exchange 
for goods. At first they knew not what to do 
with them. The ingenuity of the Yankees 
soon turned them into gloves. Though rude in 
construction, they have gradually advanced 
and improved until they now manufacture the 
finest dressed gent's glove made, which finds 
a market all over the United States. 

Heath, Judge S. Pulver, was bom at 

Minersville, Montgomery County, April 15th, 
1 820, and resided there till six years old, when, 
together with his parents, he removed to Troy. 
In two years they moved to Amsterdam, 
where he has since resided. His academic 
education was received at the hands of Horace 
Sprague, village of Amsterdam ; then at- 
tended Union College, from which place he 
graduated 1840; when he studied law with 
Samuel Belding and Nicholas Hill, Jr., at 
Amsterdam, and was admitted to the bar in 
1842. Subsequently he became a partner 
with Hon. Clark B. Cochrane, late of Albany, 
also Samuel Belding, Jr.; afterward Gerry W. 
Hazelton, of Wisconsin. In 1850, he was 
elected to the Legislature and served in 1851. 
From 1869 to 1871, he was the U. S. District 
Asssesor of Eighteenth district, New York. At 



the expiration of that term (1871), he was 
elected Judge of Montgomery County, a posi- 
tion he has since and now holds. He[is also a 
director in the First National Bank of Amster- 
dam, and director in the Gas Company. He 
was married in 1847 to Miss Groat, of Amster- 
dam, by whom he has had six children. His 
eldest son is at present a partner in his law 
practice. Judge Heath is now in the fifty- 
eighth year of his age and the senior partner 
of the well-known law firm at Amsterdam. 
He has been a stirring, practical man, both 
in public and in private life, and his good 
constitution being still vigorous and unen- 
feebled and his intellect ripened by experience, 
he would do honor to any official function in 
the gift of his State. 

Hedstrom, Eric L., was born in Stock- 
holm, Sweden, August 21st, 1835. His father, 
Eric Hedstrom, came to this country in 1843, 
and settled in Lake County, Illinois, upon 
what was then government land. 

The country was sparsely settled, and 
Mr. Hedstrom's advantages were necessarily 
limited. 

At the age of sixteen, he was apprenticed to 
the trade of a blacksmith, at Waukegan, 111., 
with the understanding that during the first 
year he should have six months' schooling. 
Failing to fulfil their agreement in this parti- 
cular, he returned to the farm, remaining there 
for another two years, at which time he de- 
termined to go to Rochester with the purpose 
of taking a college course. 

But straitened circumstances making it 
necessary for him to earn, to a large extent, 
his way through school, his health failed, and 
in the spring of 1856 he returned to Chicago. 

He soon obtained employment with A. B. 
Meeker & Co., where he remained until 1864, 
when he was sent by that firm to Buffalo, 



470 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



Hod 



N. Y., to represent its interests there. He 
was at once given an interest in the business 
in Buffalo, the firm being known as E. L. 
Hedstrom until 1874, when a junior partner 
was admitted, the firm becoming known as 
E. L. Hedstrom & Co. 

The principal business of the house is that 
of anthracite coal, being sole agents for the 
Lehigh Valley Coal Company, an interest 
identified with that of the Lehigh Valley Rail- 
road Company. They also represent large 
interests connected with the Lake Superior 
iron regions. 

Mr. Hedstrom was married in the summer 
of 1865 to Miss Anna M. Clampffer, daughter 
of Mr. G. M. Clampffer, of Reading, Pa., the 
issue of which has been two children. 

One of the chief characteristics of this gentle- 
man's success has been his untiring energy 
and indomitable will. With limited advan- 
tages he has surmounted many obstacles where 
others would have failed, and is to-day recog- 
nized as standing at the head of one of the 
leading houses in the line of his trade. 

His business connections represent but a 
small part of his activities. For several years 
he was President of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association of Buffalo, and is also actively 
engaged in church and Sunday-school work. 

As one of his friends informs the writer of 
this sketch, " He is always to be found at the 
wheel when any public good is to be ob- 
tained." 

Without doubt, Mr. Hedstrom is a self- 
made man, and one who has the esteem and 
confidence of the community in which he 
lives. 



Hodge, John. — The subject of this 
sketch is in personal appearance robust phy- 
sique, generous temperament, with bold and 



shrewd capacity, and in many respects a re- 
presentative and typical business man. 

He was born in Jefferson County, New 
York, during 1837, and in early life had many 
advantages of mental training and culture. 
His first tastes were formed for a professional 
career, and he studied for the law, which he 
afterward abandoned, determining to make 
himself useful and active as a business man. 
To this end he moved to Lockport, N. Y., 
where he commenced the manufacture ot 
gargling oil. What success has attended his 
exertions and shrewd business management 
is apodictical to all ; for there are few among 
our readers who do not know Mr. Hodge, 
personally or by reputation, as having built 
up a vast business, and the reputation of the 
goods he manufactures is as wide-spread as 
our vast country. 

In 1872, he feeling an interest, and having 
faith in the future of Lockport, erected an 
elegant block known as the Hodge Opera- 
House Building, which contains the Post- 
Office, Western Union Telegraph Office, seven 
first-class stores, all the city and United States 
courts and offices, besides the opera-house 
proper with a capacity to hold 2000 people. 
He is also president of the Union Printing 
and Publishing Company, and president of the 
Firemen's Life Association of the State of 
New York. Mr. Hodge is worthy of more than 
the usual word in connection with his stand- 
ing in the various grades of the fraternity ot 
Freemasonry ; but we forbear any further 
notice of him in these relations than to state 
that he has held many positions in both the 
York and Scottish rites, and in all his Masonic 
relations he discharges his duties with un- 
swerving integrity and well-deserved honor. 
Mr. Hodge is an example to the young men 
of to-day. He is now in the prime of life and 
in the strength and activity of his manhood ; 



Hos — How] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



473 



and the honors of well-doing shall gather 
round his steps when the days of his active 
toil shall be passed. 

Hosmer, Gustavus P., was born Au- 
gust 2d, 1819, at Avon, Livingston County, 
N. Y. He moved to Batavia, Genesee 
County, N. Y., spring of 1827, and to Ni- 
agara County, N. Y., in 1836, with his father, 
who was one of the pioneers of Western 
New York (1793). The subject of this 
sketch received his early schooling at Avon 
and Batavia, finishing at the Canandaigua 
Academy in the spring of 1835. His early 
business experience was obtained while acting 
in the capacity of clerk in stores at Canan- 
daigua, Rochester, and Buffalo, and T For- 
warding House at Oswego. From the fall 
of 1839 till the spring of 1841, he was in the 
Bank of Western New York, at Rochester, 
as book-keeper and teller. In the spring of 
1841, he moved to Albany, and occupied a 
responsible position in a stave and lumber 
house, and commenced business for himself 
in the same business in fall of 1841. This 
he has since continued with more than ordi- 
nary success, operating in Northern Ohio, 
Western Pennsylvania, and Michigan. In 
the last-named State, he has owned pine and 
oak lands, mills, and for many years was in- 
terested in vessel stock on the Western lakes. 
His goods have found their way all over the 
Northern States and as far south as Balti- 
more, and his business connections extended 
for many years to Portland, Me., with a firm 
who are largely engaged in sending shooks 
and cooperage stock to the West India mar- 
kets, and he ships to many ports in Northern 
Europe, France, Spain, and California. 

It was through his instrumentality that the 
manufacture of shooks was commenced in 
Western New York, and since its infancy it 
9 



has developed into a very extensive business 
westward to Wisconsin. He has been suc- 
cessful in all of his business pursuits, from a 
rare combination of industry and judgment 
which has ever restrained him from embark- 
ing in visionary projects, and kept his ener- 
gies properly directed, adding to and extend- 
ing his business operations, which for many 
years have furnished a large number of per- 
sons with daily employment; and now, at the 
age of fifty-eight, after a successful result, he 
retires from active business to enjoy the com- 
forts of a quiet home in Lockport, one of the 
most delightful cities in Western New York. 

Howe, Elias, Jr. — This gentleman, 
well known in this country and Europe as 
the inventor of the sewing-machine, died at 
his residence in Brooklyn, October 3d, 1867. 
The deceased was a native of Spencer, 
Mass., where he was born during the year 
18 1 9, and was consequently forty-eight years 
of age at the time of his death. While a 
youth, he pursued the occupation of a farmer 
and miller ; but as he approached manhood, 
learned the trade of a machinist. In the 
pursuit of this vocation he studied the sci- 
ence of machinery with marked success, the 
result of his studies being the invention of the 
sewing-machine, which brought him both 
fame and wealth, and proved one of the 
greatest benefits to the community. His 
first patent was secured in 1847, but it was 
not until 1854 that he finally succeeded in 
maintaining his claim as the inventor. He 
was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Ex- 
position by the Emperor Napoleon in person 
for his invention, and was the recipient of 
other marks of favor from the ruler of the 
French. For some time before his death, 
Mr. Howe had been afflicted with a terrible 
disease, known as Bright's disease of the kid- 



474 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Hoy — Hug 



neys ; and, although it was reported that he 
had been cured of it by a clairvoyant on his 
return from Europe, it is probable that was 
the cause of his death. The public in general 
regretted his loss, for his invention undoubt- 
edly conferred a great blessing on mankind, 
and the poor working-woman in particular. 

Hoysradt, J. W., was born in 1824, at 
Ancram, Columbia County, N. Y. During 
his early business experience, he clerked in 
the ordinary country stores until nineteen 
years of age, receiving his education in the 
district-schools. In 1845, after living at 
Hudson one year, he moved to Stockbridge, 
Mass., where he was engaged to Charles C. 
Alger in the manufacture of charcoal pig- 
iron. In 1850, Mr. Alger moved to Hudson, 
Mr. Hoysradt going with him, and where a 
stock company was formed, and the present 
works of the Hudson Iron Company were 
built. The subject of this sketch has been 
connected with these works from that lime, 
and since 1864 he has held the position of 
president and general manager. He has 
been President of the Clapp & Jones Steam 
Fire-Engine Company since its organization ; 
was President of the Columbia County Iron 
Company. At present he is President of the 
Farmers' National Bank of Hudson. He 
has always been a staunch friend to all im- 
provements, and a liberal subscriber to 
stocks, and at present is connected with 
many institutions. When mayor of the city 
of Hudson, during 1859 and i860, and again 
in 1867-8, he was ready to approve of every 
measure that would contribute to the growth 
and welfare of the city. He held the post- 
mastership for eight years. 

J. W. Hoysradt is a child of New York, 
and has been nursed amidst her institutions. 
He has, through a long course of successful 



life, shown himself worthy of all honor; and 
still in the meridian of his existence, the 
State in which he first drew his breath can 
hope all things from his talents, patriotism, 
and integrity. 

Hughson, J. C— The biography of 
such a man as J. C. Hughson is fraught not 
only with readable interest, but has a useful 
moral effect upon the present time and pos- 
terity. It teaches youth what industry and 
moral worth can achieve, and that they can 
hope for all things if they make honor their 
guide, and are prompted by honorable emu- 
lation. 

The subject of this sketch was born in 
Schoharie County, N. Y., October 4th, 
1820, where he continued to live until he 
was eighteen years old, receiving the best 
education the neighborhood afforded. In 
1838, he moved to Catskill, where he worked 
in the capacity of clerk for five years. In 
1845, he moved to Albany, and became a 
member of the firm of Higbee, Douglass & 
Co., who were large lumber dealers. Here 
he continued until 1857, when he sold out 
his interest in the Albany firm, and bought 
their entire manufacturing interest located in 
Canada, which he still continues to operate. 
After paying strict personal attention to his 
manufacturing business for eight or ten years, 
he returned to Albany, and started a lumber- 
yard on a large scale, since which time he has 
made Albany his permanent home, though 
he still retains large interests in Canada, be- 
sides having yards in Port Sarnia and New 
York City. In 1842, he was married in Cats- 
kill, N. Y., the issue of which has been eight 
children. Amid all the political agitation 
this country has passed through, Mr. Hugh- 
son was never allured from his business to 
take part in factional disputes, but has de- 




■■^y-^- : : 




Tve — Jer] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCVCLOI'. l'.DIA. 



481 



voted himself most unremittingly to business, 
its extensive operations requiring all his time 
and most watchful attention. He is now in 
the prime of physical vigor and matured ex- 
perience, though among the oldest dealers in 
the Albany lumber district. 

Ives, Willard. — The subject of this 
sketch was born at Watertown, N. Y., July 
7th, 1807. His father, Dr. Titus Ives, moved 
to that place from Connecticut, in 180 1. In 
his early life, Willard Ives received such edu- 
cation as was afforded by the schools at that 
time and place — for he was brought up on 
his father's farm, which vocation he has fol- 
lowed all his life — so that the fortune Mr. 
Ives has amassed has been made legitimately 
in the business which he has followed, and the 
investments he has made in other channels. 
His motto in life was to excel in all he un- 
dertook, and his success in life shows how 
well he has lived up to the maxim which he 
set before him as a guide. As a citizen 
of Watertown, he has done more than his share 
to advance all her interests, and to-day he is 
president of the following companies and insti- 
tutions : Merchants' Bank of Watertown, also 
trustee in National Trust Company of New 
York, Watertown Fire Insurance Company, 
Davis Sewing- Machine Company Ives Semi- 
nary at Antwerp, Jefferson County Orphan 
Asylum, and Jefferson County Bible So- 
ciety. He is also president of the board 
of trustees of the Arsenal Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. Probably the most eventful 
position he ever filled was as a delegate to 
the first Evangelical Alliance, held in London, 
England, in 1846; he was also a delegate 
to the meeting of 1873, held at New York 
City ; and was delegate to the General Con- 
ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
held in Brooklyn, in 1872. Mr. Ives was for 



many years a member of the board of man- 
agers of the Jefferson County Agricultural 
Society, filling the offices of secretary, treasu- 
rer, and president. In 1850, was elected rep- 
resentative of his district in the Thirty-second 
Congress. 

He was one of the corporators and vice-pre- 
sident of the Thousand Island Camp-Meeting 
Association, organized in 1875, located upon 
Wellesley Island, in the St. Lawrence River, 
owning 1000 acres of land, and known as 
Thousand Island Park. 

Mr. Willard Ives has been twice married ; 
first, in December, 1827, to Miss Charlotte 
Winslow. His second marriage was to Miss 
Lucina M. Eddy, of Philadelphia, in Jeffer- 
son County, N. Y., which took place in 1862. 
One of the effective attributes of his popu- 
larity is the purity of his character. It is 
this which has given him the esteem of all 
men. 

Jervis, John B., was born at Huntington, 
Long Island, N. Y., on the 14th of December, 
1795, and moved to Rome with his father, 
Timothy Jervis, in 1798. He was educated in 
the common schools of Rome, N. Y., where he 
continued to reside until April 10th, 1818. 
In 181 7, Benjamin Wright, the surveyor 
whom the State employed in constructing the 
canal, came to Rome for the purpose of 
breaking ground. An axeman was wanted to 
clear a way through the swamp, and Timo- 
thy Jervis said, "Take John." The offer was 
accepted, and the youth thus began the life of 
an engineer. At the end of a week, the task 
was done, but the axeman's ambition was 
aroused, and he solicited a place as rodman. 
It was promised by the next spring, and in 
1 818 he was thus employed at Syracuse on 
the salary of $12 a month. The principal 
engineer on the canal was Nathan S. Roberts. 



482 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[JEK 



During the season of 1818, therodman learned 
with rapidity, and showed such energy in 
penetrating Montezuma swamp, that the 
year afterward found him at the head of a 
party as resident engineer, at $1.25 per day. 
Mr. Jervis continued in this service for seven 
years, until the entire canal was finished. His 
salary had been increased to $4 per day, and 
he had established a remarkable reputation 
for a young man only thirty years of age. At 
this time it was resolved to supply New York 
with coal directly from the Lackawanna 
mines, and the Delaware and Hudson Canal 
was projected. This canal was begun in 
1825, when the Erie had just been finished. 
Benjamin Wright and John B. Jervis were the 
engineers, and in 1830 the works were opened 
for service. Mr. Jervis's salary had by this 
time been increased to $4000 per year, and 
he had won a name as the first engineer on 
this continent. The railroad above men- 
tioned had a short level, on which was placed 
the first successful locomotive engine built in 
America, which was planned by Mr. Jervis. 
This locomotive is still in existence. 

In 1830, the Mohawk and Hudson Rail- 
road was projected. The construction of this 
road was committed to Mr. Jervis, who also 
built at the same time the road connecting 
Schenectady and Saratoga Springs. These 
works were finished in 1832, and were the 
objects of widespread admiration. The suc- 
cess of the Erie Canal led to a general desire 
to increase the system. In 1833, the Che- 
nango Canal was begun, and the work was 
placed in Mr. Jervis's hands. 

The Croton Aqueduct was begun in Octo- 
ber, 1836, and the commissioners showed 
their sense of its importance by employing 
one who was justly considered the greatest of 
American engineers. Mr. Jervis was then 
more than forty years old, and in the fulness of 



manly vigor. The anxiety connected with 
so important a responsibility often reached 
intensity, and Mr. Jervis was at times threat- 
ened with utter prostration ; but his natural 
vigor enabled him to overcome all difficulties, 
and he saw the waters of the Croton intro- 
duced to New York in the autumn of 1842. 
It required four additional years to bring the 
work to perfection. To carry the aqueduct 
across the Harlem River was an important 
as well as difficult task. Major Douglas had 
proposed inverted siphons as a permanent 
method, but Mr. Jervis determined to bridge 
the stream. The siphon system, however, 
was adopted for temporary use. The bridge 
was finished in 1846, and not a flaw can be 
detected in its entire extent. Mr. Jervis has 
lived to see New York enjoy the benefits of 
his genius for thirty years, and the work it- 
self may last for ages. 

Boston, following the example of New 
York, resolved to introduce the Cochituate 
stream, and Mr. Jervis accepted the work, 
which was finished in three years. The dis- 
tance is twenty miles, and it cost about five 
millions. Considered by itself, it is a work of 
great importance ; but comparison with the 
Croton diminishes it at least one half, both in 
expense and difficulty of construction. 

Before the Boston water-works were in full 
operation, Mr. Jervis had been designated to 
a new enterprise. For twenty years, the need 
of railway transit between Albany and New 
York had been severely felt ; hence the 
Hudson River road was planned, Mr. James 
Boorman being one of its chief patrons. In 
1847, when the directors were ready to move, 
Mr. Jervis accepted the appointment of chief 
engineer. Although this road was very un- 
profitable for several years after completion, 
Mr. Jervis had confidence from the begin- 
ning in its success. Mr. Jervis built the road 



JOH] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



485 



to PoughUtepsie, and proceeded to locate the 
track to Albany, when failing health and 
other circumstances led him to make a trip 
to Europe. This enabled him to examine 
the finest works of engineering in England 
and on the continent, and he then returned 
and made New York his residence. 

Mr. Jervis was subsequently engaged on 
the Michigan Southern, and also the Rock 
Island road, and passed six years in this new 
field. In 1858, being then sixty-three, he re- 
turned to Rome, and determined to spend his 
days amid the scenes of his boyhood. His na- 
tural activity, however, made a quiet life dis- 
tasteful ; hence he accepted, in 1 861, the office 
of superintendent and engineer of the Pitts- 
burg and Fort Wayne road. This concern 
had been running down so long that its stock 
sold at 8, and, indeed, it had gone into the 
hands of the bondholders. It had been ten 
years in operation, but its managers did not 
understand its needs and exigencies. They 
had no practical knowledge of railroading. 
Alter it had been two years under its new 
superintendent, a dividend of ten per cent 
was made. The value of Mr. Jervis's ser- 
vices to this road, for which he received 
$6000 a year, has been estimated at a mil- 
lion. In 1866, Mr. Jervis built his present 
stately mansion, and having passed so many 
years of hard labor, he felt the need of re- 
cruiting his health. The Fort Wayne road 
had been leased to the Pennsylvania Central, 
and the latter retained him as consulting en- 
gineer, an office which he still holds. 

Johnson, Samuel, was born February 
9th, 1835, in the town of Shelby, Orleans 
County, N. Y. His father was a farmer and 
a weaver of fancy linens, and his mother also 
a weaver. They came from the North of 
Ireland. His grandparents were Scotch. 



When the subject of this sketch was only 
seven years old, he lost his father. The first 
work done by him was binding bobbins ; 
assisting his brothers, who were manufacturers 
of threshing-machines; and attending winter 
school ; which occupied his time until about 
fourteen years of age. About this time, he 
assumed the management of his mother's 
farm. When twenty, he bought a farm ad- 
joining his mother's, purchasing the most ap- 
proved farming implements, and even these 
he found defective, but with his mechanical 
ingenuity made several improvements, besides 
inventing new labor-saving machinery. 
Among these was a " self-rake," which he 
attached to the Ketchum reaper, manufac- 
tured by R. L. Howard, of Buffalo. The 
success of this rake at once attracted the at- 
tention of Mr. Howard, who made Mr. John- 
son an offer that induced him to sell his farm 
and enter the factory at Buffalo, where he 
was engaged making improvements on his 
machine, and inventing others that are now 
celebrated in all grain-growing countries. In 
1864, he left Buffalo and commenced to 
license others to use his machines and " self- 
rake," moving to Syracuse, where two fac- 
tories adopted his inventions. In 1867, he 
formed a copartnership with James S. Thayer, 
and commenced to manufacture the reapers 
and mowers of his invention, the firm being 
S. Johnson & Co. In 1868, he bought a fac- 
tory at Brockport, N. Y., taking B. E. Hunt- 
ley in as partner, when the firm changed to 
Johnson, Huntley & Co. Here the business 
increased so fast that, in 1870, they formed a 
stock company under the name of the John- 
son Harvester Company, and the business 
continued to increase so rapidly that, at the 
close of the harvest season of 1874, the shop 
had grown in capacity to 10,000 machines 
per annum, from a capacity of 500 in 1868. 



486 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[JUD 



The business of licensing had also grown to 
40,000 machines annually; when Mr. John- 
son resigned the presidency of the company 
to give his sole attention to making improve- 
ments, collecting royalties, and studying the 
German and P'rench languages to better 
enable him to converse with the users of his 
improvements in Europe, where the demand 
for his machines exceeded 12,000 annually. 
The result of his observation and inquiries in 
Europe induced him to invent two machines 
especially adapted to the wants of farmers in 
the different sections in Europe : these were 
eagerly adopted by European manufacturers; 
and the consequence is, that at the present 
writing eight tenths of the machines built in 
the United States, Canada, and Europe for 
self-raking use his improvements. This suc- 
cess is the result of well-directed energy, to- 
gether with his fertile mechanical brain. By 
an industry that has never wavered, by an 
integrity that is unimpeachable, he has gained 
reputation, position, and wealth. If the youth 
of the rising generation would go and do 
likewise, they would in time achieve what he 
has done. 

Judson, Edward B. — This well-known 
banker and financier was born January nth, 
1 8 14, at Coxsackie, Greene County, N. Y. 
His father, William Judson, formerly from 
Woodbury, Ct., being an intelligent man 
of the old New England school, early incul- 
cated in the minds of his children that love 
of industry, economy, and integrity which are 
still characteristics of New England training, 
and which qualities the son, E. B., inherited in 
a marked degree, his career and conduct 
being guided and governed by them in all 
the relations of life. His mother, Esther 
Barker, was a member of one of the old fam- 
ilies of Branford, Ct., and a lady of intelli- 



gence and superior qualities. His earliest 
business training was in the banking office of 
his uncle at Coxsackie, Ralph Barker, who 
had been associated with Erastus Corning in 
the Albany City Bank. When twenty-two, 
he began the manufacture of lumber at Con- 
stantia, Oswego County, and soon afterwards 
engaged in the manufacture of iron. Twenty- 
five years ago, he became interested in the 
manufacture of salt, and in 1864-5, added to his 
business the manufacture of glass. In all these 
branches he is still interested. For a period ot 
twenty years he was connected with his brother, 
William A., in the lumber commission business 
at Albany. In 1845, he was married to Miss 
Sarah Williams, daughter of Coddington B. 
Williams, of Syracuse. It was not to be sup- 
posed that a man of Mr. Judson's ability and 
popularity should not receive from the public 
some testimonial of respect and confidence. 
In 1839-41, he represented the county of 
Oswego in the State Legislature. As a mem- 
ber of that body, he served as chairman of the 
Committee on Cities and Villages, and as 
chairman of the select Committee on the 
State Lunatic Asylum. In 1868, he was ap- 
pointed a presidential elector for the State of 
New York. As a banker and financier he is 
widely known and esteemed. He acted as 
chairman of the Executive Committee of the 
National Banking Association from 1864 to 
1875. Associated with him in this position 
were Thomas Coleman, P. C. Calhoun, 
Charles B. Hall, George F. Baker, J. S. 
Norris, W. F. Coolbaugh, John W. Ellis, 
Fred W. Crownenbold, and F. B. Loomis. 
Mr. Judson took a leading part in organizing 
the Lake Ontario Bank of Oswego. This 
institution was appropriately styled a Bankers' 
Bank, as among its stockholders were John 
A. Stevenson, President, and C. H. Russell 
Vice-President of the Bank of Commerce, 



zyy&^o*- ^*^>/ 



COMLEY BROS NEW YORK 








I 



JUD 



RIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



4QI 



New York ; Erastus Corning, President, and 
H. H. Martin, Cashier of the Albany City 
Bank ; Rufus H. King, President, and J. H. 
Van Antwerp, Cashier of the State Bank of 
Albany ; J. B. Plumb, President of the Bank of 
the Interior, Albany ; Hamilton White, Presi- 
dent of the Onondaga County Bank ; Horace 
White, President of the Bank of Syracuse ; 
John D. Norton, President of the Merchants' 
Bank, and Thomas B. Fitch, President of the 
Mechanics' Bank, Syracuse; G. B. Rich, 
President of the Bank of Attica, Buffalo; and 
Luther Wright, President of Luther Wright's 
Bank, Oswego. Included in its list of stock- 
holders were also Thurlow Weed, John L. 
Schoolcraft, David Hamilton, John Knower, 
John Crouse, F. T. Carrington, George Ged- 
des, and William A. Judson. James Piatt, 
one of the purest men in the State, was made 
President, and Mr. Judson was made the 
financial officer, remaining at Oswego until, 
at the request of Secretary Chase, he organ- 
ized the First National Bank of Syracuse, of 
which institution he is still the president. 
This bank is the sixth in the list of our 
national banking institutions. Mr. Judson 
was at one period Vice-President of the Mer- 
chants' Bank of Syracuse; Cashier of the 
Salt Springs Bank of Syracuse, for over six 
years ; a Director and Vice-President of the 
Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga, 
and a director in the New York Central 
Railroad Company. He is now, and has 
been for many years, a director in the Ameri- 
can Express Company ; was one of the 
directors of the State Bank of Syracuse and 
the Syracuse National Bank, and is now 
President of the Syracuse Glass Company. 
He is also a member of the Board of Trus- 
tees of Wells College. Mr. Judson's business 
career has been a notably successful one, and 
presents a fine illustration of what well-direct- 



ed energy, industry, resolution, and integrity 
may accomplish. To such men our country 
owes lasting obligations for their labors in 
developing its resources, and contributing to 
its prosperity and power. 

Judson, J. D., was born in St. Lawrence 
County, N. Y., in 181 1. His parents moved 
there when the place was a wilderness. They 
were among the earliest settlers of Northern 
New York, and doubtless had to endure the 
hardships incident to that early period, 
when the only ambition of the pioneer was 
to convert his new farm in the forest into a 
comfortable home, and to raise and educate 
his young family to habits of industry, econ- 
omy, and integrity. Such a life, though full 
of hardship, is well calculated to rear up men 
and women able to fight the battle of life 
successfully. The subject of this sketch was 
raised on his father's farm, receiving during 
the winter season the advantages of the com- 
mon schools of that locality by walking 
eight miles each way through the woods. 
While yet quite young he lost his father, after 
which he moved to Ogdensburg, where he 
continued schooling. Afterwards, through 
the kindness of his elder brother, David C. 
Judson, he went to the academy at Potsdam, 
where he finished his education, after which 
he returned to Ogdensburg and entered the 
store of G. N. Seymour as clerk, where he 
remained six years, and never lost but three 
days from business during the whole time. 
In June, 1831, he entered his brother's Og- 
densburg Bank, organized the year before, 
and since that time he has been engaged in 
the banking business. Commencing as clerk, 
he has filled every position to that of presi- 
dent, which he now is, of Judson's Bank, 
started in 1853, though he has many other 
business interests, and owes his success to 



492 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Kel 



close attention to his own affairs, which have 
so claimed his whole time that we may say 
he has never been out of his native State. 
He has done much, and all honorably. In 
the community in which he lives he enjoys 
the confidence of all who know him. 

Kelly, J. B., was born at Goshen, Litch- 
field County, Ct, August 6th, 1830. His 
father and grandfather were both born in 
New Haven County, Ct., and the latter was 
a soldier of distinction in the Revolution- 
ary war. The subject of this sketch received 
his education in the common schools and 
academy of his native town, graduating from 
the last-named institution when seventeen. 
During this time, he worked most summers, 
helping his father, who was both tanner and 
farmer, though, when his schooling was fin- 
ished, he commenced clerking in a country 
store. Here he continued eight years, when 
lie commenced in a small way for himself. 
This lasted one year, when he received a 
proposition from William H. Imlay, of Hart- 
ford, to go to Michigan and take charge of 
his manufacturing interests, with an offer of 
an interest. This he declined until he had 
tried his adaptability. At the expiration of 
six months, he returned to Hartford, and 
consummated a partnership, dating from the 
beginning of their connection, and which 
continued until Mr. Imlay's death, which oc- 
curred in 1858. Since then Mr. Kelly has 
continued the same business, enlarging it 
yearly, until they now manufacture twenty- 
five million feet of lumber annually, which 
is cut from his own pine lands. In 1861, 
the requirements of his great and growing 
trade compelled him to find a location to 
dispose of his lumber, so he moved to Alba- 
ny, N. Y., where he has since resided, and is 
now among the largest dealers in the district. 



In manners he is affable and genial, and his 
disposition frank and generous. In business 
matters he has always been prompt, and has 
never allowed his engagements to be unful- 
filled or postponed. 

Kellogg, John. — Whoever achieves for- 
tune and social position by his own efforts, 
and preserves at the same time an unblem- 
ished reputation, is a credit to any commu- 
nity, and is a safe example and guide to suc- 
ceeding generations. John Kellogg was born 
at West Galway, Fulton County, N. Y., 
December 17th, 1826. He received a com- 
mon-school education only, and at the early 
age of fifteen commenced working for his 
father, who was a manufacturer of linseed-oil. 
He continued in his employ, paying strict at- 
tention to the details of the business, until his 
father's death, which occurred in 1848, when 
he continued the business in partnership with 
his brother. In 185 1, they bought their pres- 
ent works at Amsterdam. Two years later, 
his brother died. The business, however, was 
assuming such large proportions, Mr. Kellogg 
found it necessary to have a partner. He 
then received Mr. James H. Miller into the 
business, who is still associated with him. 
Their business has so increased that they now 
have a capacity to consume 1000 bushels of 
seed per diem, most of which they import 
from the East Indies. Their works are among 
the largest in this country. In 1850, Mr. 
Kellogg was married to Miss Olive Davis, of 
Galway, Saratoga County, N. Y., by whom 
he has had four children, his eldest son being 
a partner of the present firm of Kelloggs & 
Miller. In 1863, Mr. J. Kellogg was elected 
president of the village, and the succeeding 
year was elected member of the State Assem- 
bly, and served his term during the session of 
1864. He is also a director of the Farmers' 





/^C 






KJ^^A. 




U\ 






Kel — Lea] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



499 



National Bank of Amsterdam. Thus we see 
the business career of Mr. Kellogg has been 
most prosperous. His business talents, his 
industry and energy, would have made him 
successful in any sphere. Mr. Kellogg has 
reached a position in the business world 
which must satisfy all his aspirations. He is 
the senior partner of the well-known house of 
Kelloggs & Miller. His name has an influ- 
ence in business, political, and social circles, 
the result of successful enterprise and exalted 
merit. Though he has amassed a fortune 
sufficient to supply all the luxuries which 
even a devotee of pleasure might require, he 
still pursues his usual routine of business hab- 
its, with nearly the same ardor which charac- 
terized him in early years, and his remarkable 
diligence furnishes a salutary example to the 
young members of his establishment. 

Kelsey, George W., was bom on Long 
Island, May 18th, 1808. His father, Daniel, 
was also born on the island. In the early 
days of George W. Kelsey, he received only a 
common-school education, which received at- 
tention partly at his birthplace and partly in 
New York City, to which place his parents 
moved when the subject of this sketch was 
nine years old. At the age of fourteen, he 
was apprenticed to the business of merchant 
tailoring. After serving faithfully for four 
years, he bought out his time. Until 1833, 
he was engaged in various occupations, but 
at this date he moved to Buffalo, and com- 
menced mercantile business for himself, at 
which place he remained four years. In 1837, 
he returned to New York, remaining only a 
short time, when he moved to West Virginia. 
From there he moved to Muscatine, Iowa, 
where he bought a farm and attended closely 
to the details of this honorable pursuit for 
some time, leaving it in 1840, when the chol- 
10 



era made its appearance in that section, al- 
most depopulating it. He therefore sold his 
farm, returned to New York, and engaged in 
the real estate business. In 1853, he moved 
to Williamsburg, now part of Brooklyn, 
where he has since continued in the same 
pursuit of real estate dealer. This, like all 
other ventures Mr. Kelsey has engaged in, 
proved prosperous from the fact it has had 
his personal attention. By his business ca- 
pacity, his integrity and successful manage- 
ment, Mr. Kelsey has always held the respect 
of those whom he has encountered in his 
business operations; and his high moral 
worth connected with his business capacity, 
has given him influence and position in the 
place of his birth. As a fitting tribute to the 
confidence bestowed on him, he was in 1861 
elected to the first vice-presidency of the 
Dime Savings Bank, a position he held and 
filled with distinction till T874, when Mr. Din- 
gey retiring, he was elected president, which 
office he still holds. In 1828, on the 20th of 
September, Mr. Kelsey was joined in wedlock 
to Miss Eliza, daughter of Edward Snow, 
Esq., of New York City, by whom he has had 
four children. At an age when most people 
retire from active business, Mr. Kelsey re- 
mains hale, vigorous, laborious, intelligent, 
and genial, the same benevolent friend to the 
poor and industrious he has been for the last 
forty years, still emphatically showing his 
faith by his works. 

Leavenworth, Elias Warner, was 

born December 20th, 1803, at Canaan, 
Columbia County, N. Y. When three years 
of age, his father and family removed to 
Great Barrington, Mass. In early life, he re- 
ceived all the advantage of mental training, 
graduating from Yale College in 1824. This 
same year he began the study of law with 



=;oo 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Lea 



William Cullen Bryant, who was then prac- 
tising at Great Barrington. One year later, 
he entered the law school at Litchfield, Ct. 
In January, 1827, he was there admitted to 
practise in all the courts in Connecticut. In 
November, 1827, he left Great Barrington, 
and moved to Syracuse, N. Y., where, in 
February, 1828, he was admitted in the Com- 
mon Pleas as attorney and counsellor ; two 
years later, in the Supreme Court at Albany, 
as an attorney, and, in 1833, as counsellor. 

In 1850, he abandoned his profession en- 
tirely, on account of the loss of his voice by 
severe bronchitis. Rest and care for two 
or three years fully restored him. Other 
pursuits having in the mean time engaged his 
attention, he never again returned to the 
practice of law. In January, 1832, he was 
appointed lieutenant of artillery in the One 
Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment of 
infantry, and promoted to captain the same 
year. In 1834, he was appointed lieu- 
tenant-colonel of the Twenty-ninth Regi- 
ment of artillery, and in 1835, received the 
appointment of colonel of the same regi- 
ment. In 1836, he was appointed brigadier- 
general of the Seventh Brigade of artillery. 
In 1837-8-9 and 1840, he was president of 
the village, going out in the spring of 1841. 
In 1839, he was elected supervisor of the old 
town of Salina, and was re-elected in 1840. 
In 1846-7, he was again president of the 
village. In the spring of 1849, he was elect- 
ed mayor of the city, and in the fall of the 
same year, was elected a member of the 
Legislature to represent the city district. 

In the fall of 1853, he was nominated for 
the office of Secretary of State almost with- 
out opposition, and elected. On the 4th day 
of January, 1855, he was elected a corre- 
sponding member of the American Historical 
and Geographical Society of the City of New 



York, and also the same year of the New 
England Historical and Genealogical Society 
of Boston. In the fall of 1856, he was again 
elected to the Legislature to represent the 
city district ; he was chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Canals and a member of the Com- 
mittee on Banks, also chairman of the Select 
Committee of one from each judicial district, 
on the equalization of the State tax. In the 
spring of 1859, he was again elected mayor 
of the city. In the winter of i860, by an 
act of the Legislature, he was appointed one 
of the Board of Quarantine Commissioners, 
was on its organization chosen its president, 
and spent most of the following summer in 
New York and on Staten Island, in the dis- 
charge of its duties. In the summer of the 
same year, he was chosen President of the 
Republican State Convention, assembled at 
Syracuse, to select delegates to the National 
Convention, then soon to assemble at Chi- 
cago. On the 5th of February, 1861, he 
was chosen by the Legislature, in joint ballot, 
one of the Regents of the University. In 
the month of March in the same year, he was 
nominated by the President of the United 
States, and confirmed by the Senate, as the 
Commissioner on the part of the United 
States, under the Convention with New Gre- 
nada, acting as such until the commission 
expired in 1862. In the spring of 1865, 
he was President of the Board of Com- 
missioners appointed by the Governor, with 
consent of the Senate, to locate the State 
Asylum for the Blind, and in the fall of the 
same year, was appointed by the Governor a 
trustee of the State Asylum for Idiots, and in 
1866, was reappointed. In 1867, he was 
appointed by the Legislature a member of a 
Board of Commissioners for the further im- 
provement and repair of the State Armory at 
Syracuse, and in May, 1868, was appointed 



Lee] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



501 



by the Legislature a member of a Board of 
Commissioners (of which he was the presi- 
dent) to establish a system of sewerage for 
the city of Syracuse. 

At the annual commencement of Hamil- 
ton College in June, 1872, he received the 
honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 

On the 23d of November, 1872, he was 
appointed by the Governor and Senate one 
of the thirty-two commissioners selected to 
amend the Constitution of the State. In the 
fall of 1874, Mr. Leavenworth was elected 
by the Republican party to the Forty-fourth 
Congress, where he served on the Committee 
of Civil Service Reform, Committee of Ex- 
penses of Secretary of State's office, and on 
the special Select Committee to investigate 
the charges preferred against Judges Wylie 
and Humphreys. 

When in the Legislature of 1850, he, as 
Chairman of a Select Committee appointed 
on his motion for that purpose, drew, re- 
ported, and carried the bill for the preserva- 
tion of Washington's Headquarters at New- 
burg. 

When Secretary of State, he also drew the 
Bill (Laws of 1867, chap. 951) for the ap- 
pointment of a Board of Commissioners of 
Public Charities. On the 31st of January, 
1855, it was introduced into the Senate by the 
Hon. Mark Spencer (Journal of 1855, p. 174). 
It resulted in appointing a Committee of Ex- 
amination. For their report, see Senate Doc. 
1857, vol. 1, No. 8. 

On the recommendation of Governor Fen- 
ton, in his annual message in 1867, tne SUD " 
ject was again brought before the Legislature. 
General L. furnished the House Committee, 
at their request, with a copy of his original 
bill, which is substantially the bill passed that 
year, and which he drew and furnished to Mr. 
Spencer in 1855. 



In the Legislature of 1857, as Chairman 
of a Select Committee of one from each judi- 
cial district, on the equalization of the State 
tax, appointed on his motion, he drew and 
reported the bill, which was passed in 
1859 (chap. 312, p. 702, etc.), entitled "An 
Act to Equalize the State Tax among the 
several counties of this State." The bill 
failed in 1857, only on account of his ill- 
health and absence. 

He is now, and has been for many years, 
in the following positions : President of the 
Syracuse Savings Bank, Syracuse City Water 
Works, Syracuse Gas Light Company, Oak- 
wood Cemetery, Historical Society of Central 
New York, New England Society of the 
City of Syracuse, Secretary and Treasurer of 
the Cape Cod Coarse Salt Company, Trustee 
of the Onondaga County Orphan Asylum, 
Syracuse Home Association, First Presbyte- 
rian Church, State Asylum for Idiots, Direc- 
tor in the Syracuse Northern Railroad, Syra- 
cuse, Phoenix and Oswego Railroad, and Re- 
gent of the University of the State of New 
York, a life position. 

He was joined in wedlock June 21st, 1833, 
to Mary Elizabeth Forman, third child of 
Joshua Forman and Margaret P. Alexander. 
Mr. Leavenworth is now in the seventy- 
fourth year of his age. He has been a stir- 
ring, practical man, both in his public and 
private life, and his good constitution being 
still vigorous and unenfeebled, and his fine 
intellect ripened by experience, he would do 
honor to any official function in the gift of 
his country. 

Lee, John A., was born at Tinmouth, 
Vermont, in 1804. When seven years of age, 
moved to Washington County, N. Y. ; nine 
years later, he moved to Westport, Essex 
County, N. Y. ; in 1824, was married to Miss 



502 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[McC 



Cynthia Tarbell, of Chester, Vermont ; in 
1825, moved to Moriah; in 1856, moved to 
Port Henry; in 1S69, moved to Saratoga 
Springs; the issue of marriage was six 
daughters, all of whom are living and mar- 
ried. 

About 1844, Mr. Lee, together with George 
Sherman and E. Hall, bought the two mines 
of iron ore now owned and operated by 
Witherbee, Sherman & Co., from D. E. San- 
ford, for $4500, and began taking about 1000 
tons of ore annually, increasing to about 
100,000 tons in 1865; in 1862, Mr. Lee 
sold out his entire interest in this investment, 
and bought the Fisher mine, which he oper- 
ated fourteen months ; this he sold, and is 
still one half owner with the Bay State Iron 
Company, in the Dolleby ore-bed near Port 
Henry, N. Y. During his active life, he was 
member of the Legislature. He was one of 
the organizers of the Whitehall Transporta- 
tion Company, Moriah Plank Road Com- 
pany, stockholder in blast furnace in West- 
port, also in Fort Edward blast furnace, stock- 
holder in Fisher Iron Company, stockholder 
in First National Bank of Troy, N. Y., First 
National Bank of Saratoga Springs. His prin- 
cipal interests, at present, are in the Union 
National Bank of Troy, N. Y., and First 
National Bank of Saratoga Springs. In 1865, 
Mr. Lee retired from active business life, and 
in 1869, moved to Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 
where all of his daughters reside, excepting 
one, who still lives at Port Henry. 

Mr. John A. Lee has passed through many 
phases of business life without reproach, and 
now all the elements of happiness are within 
his reach, and they are of his own creation. 

McCammon, William, was born in the 
city of Albany, Feb. 26th, 1 8 1 1 . He received 
the greater part of his education at the old 



Albany Academy, under Theodore Romeyn 
Beck, until 1828, when he left school 
to learn the trade of pattern-making, for the 
purpose of becoming a practical civil and 
mechanical engineer, working at it until 
twenty-one years of age. During this time, 
he studied mathematics under Prof. Joseph 
Henry, now Secretary of the Smithsonian In- 
stitute. While learning his trade and studying 
with Prof. Henry, he was freely admitted to his 
experimental rooms, in the Albany Academy. 
At that time, 1830, Prof. Henry had coils of 
wire around the room and a machine which 
vibrated by electricity, and was the incipient 
electrical telegraph. He heard Prof. Henry 
often say, that with it communication could 
be had any distance. In 1855, he was resident 
engineer on the Erie Canal enlargement. 
After finishing the trade alluded to, he re- 
turned to the Albany Academy, continuing 
his studies with Prof. Henry. In the fall of 
1832, he removed with Prof. Henry to Prince- 
ton College, and there continued the studies 
of civil and mechanical engineering for six 
months. He returned to Albany after six 
months, and took charge of the pattern-shop 
of Townsend Furnace, where he superintended 
the building of every description of machin- 
ery. In one year from this time, he had full 
charge of the whole establishment. During 
1836, he built the first locomotive ever built 
north of New York City, which was then the 
largest in the country. In 1838, he built the 
horizontal low-pressure engine, original de- 
sign, for the steamship Simeon De Witt, which 
plied on Cayuga Lake. In 1848, he built a 
low-pressure beam engine for Smith, Patton 
& Co.'s flour-mill, at Albany. This piece 
of machinery is still running, and capable 
of competing with many of more modern 
construction. During his connection with 
Townsend Furnace, he built the Rensselier 



m 




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4?vi. 





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rfj^nv^JhrntdsL 



McC— McD] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



509 



Iron-Works, in the city of Troy. This was 
the third mill ever built in the United States 
for rolling railroad iron. In 1852, Mr. Mc- 
Cammon was appointed Superintendent of 
the Albany Water-Works, a position he held 
two years. He was then called to Chicago, 
as engineer for the Chicago Water-Works, 
but soon after left, predicting for the whole 
works a failure, which ultimately proved true. 
In 1854, he returned to Albany, and com- 
menced the manufacture of draining tile, 
which he continued until 1862, increasing the 
products of the yard from 250,000 to 1,250,- 
000 tile per annum. In 1862, he bought out 
the piano-forte manufacturing establishment 
from Boardman, Grey & Co. From that 
time until now he has continually improved 
the mechanical construction and tone of his 
instruments, until they have no superior. He 
has proved successful in all of his business 
pursuits from a rare combination of industry 
and judgment, which has enabled him to un- 
dertake many enterprises, proving himself suc- 
cessful under all circumstances. On Jan. 
1st, 1877, Mr. McCammon virtually retired 
from active business life, and his business is 
now conducted by his son Edward. 

McCarthy, Hon. Dennis, was born 
March 19th, 1814, in the village of Salina, 
now Syracuse, N. Y. He is of Irish and 
American descent. His father was born in 
Ireland, and his mother in Massachusetts. 
After a few years of common school and 
academic education, he commenced business 
for his father, whom he ultimately succeeded 
as a manufacturer of salt, and merchant, and 
to-day his partners in the mercantile business 
comprise his sons, making the third generation 
conducting the same business, which has now 
been established over sixty years. Their busi- 
ness now occupies two immense establish- 



ments, devoted to their wholesale and retail 
business, which in point of size and archi- 
tecture have no superiors in the interior of 
New York State. Besides having at all times 
conducted a large business, the Hon. D. 
McCarthy was elected Supervisor of the 
town of Syracuse, in 1842. He, however, 
entered political life in 1845 as a warm sup- 
porter- of the policy of Silas Wright, A. C. 
Flagg, and John Van Buren, and was origin- 
ally a Free-Soil Democrat. He was elected 
to the State Assembly in 1846, Mayor of 
Syracuse in 1853, was elected to the 40th and 
41st Congress, and served as a member on 
the Committee of Ways and Means in the 
41st Congress. In 1875, he was elected to 
the State Senate, and in these high official 
positions he has served his constituents 
without causing one reproach to be cast upon 
his character which, politically, is spotless. 
He has also been largely associated with 
different manufacturing industries, has been 
trustee of the Syracuse Savings Bank mostly 
since its organization, is a director in the 
First National Bank, also president and 
director in the Syracuse and Chenango Rail- 
road. 

McDonald, William, was born the 29th 
of February, 1784, in New Milford, Litch- 
field Co., Ct.*, a locality which has furnished 
many of the earlier settlers of the town of 
Queensbury, among the number being the 
large and influential families of Pecks and 
Sanfords. His paternal grandfather emi- 
grated from Scotland during the old French 
war. His father was a physician of consider- 
able eminence, and as a surgeon served in 
the American army during the Revolutionary 
struggle. After the war was ended, he re- 
sumed the practice of his profession, at 
New Rochelle, Westchester Co., N. Y., where 



5io 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[McD 



he died at the advanced age of eighty-five. 
His mother's name was Mary, the sister of 
David Sanford, who removed to the town of 
Queensbury about the year 1785, and was 
one of the first settlers at the Ridge, where 
he established a large and very successful 
mercantile business. Mr. McDonald first 
moved to that place when he was only eight 
years old, but returned to New Milford 
shortly afterward, where he received what 
was considered in those days a good educa- 
tion. In 1799, having become an accom- 
plished penman and accountant, he re- 
turned to Queensbury, and immediately 
received employment from his uncle Sanford 
as clerk in the management of his extended 
business. By his assiduity and attention to his 
employer's interest, he very shortly became 
the trusted manager of the store, Mr. San- 
ford's time being engrossed by outside pur- 
suits. His fair, even, and bold chirography 
appears on the town records for the years 1802 
and 1803, when Mr. Sanford held the office 
of town clerk. At the time of the institution 
of the Hamilton Lodge F. and A. M., in 
1805, he was made a Mason, a large dele- 
gation of high officials in that organization, 
from Albany and vicinity, visiting for the 
purpose of conferring the degrees. About 
the same time, he bought out his uncle's 
interest in the store, and continued the busi- 
ness until 1808, when he removed to the 
thriving village of Waterford. Here he em- 
barked in a large and successful trade, which 
he continued until the year 1820, when he 
returned to the Ridge, and resumed the mer- 
cantile business in the old place. 

Three years later, he disposed of his stock 
and moved to Glen's Falls, where he soon 
afterward bought the old Wing farm, and 
enlarged, rebuilt, and completed the half-fin- 
ished dwelling to a spacious and elegant 



mansion, the home he continued to occupy 
up to the time of his death. Prior to the 
erection of Warren County, and until after 
the year 1822, the district embraced by 
Warren and Washington counties sent from 
three to six members to the legislature, ac- 
cording to the ratio of representation. In 
1 82 1, Mr. McDonald was placed in nomina- 
tion for the Assembly, in opposition to Asahel 
Clark, a Clintonian of distinguished abilities 
and extended influence. Notwithstanding 
the numerical ascendency of the Clintonian 
party, the Bucktail ticket was successful in this 
district, chiefly through Mr. McDonald's pop- 
ularity and instrumentality in bringing about 
one of those political revulsions which, like 
a whirlwind, triumphantly sweeps away all 
opposition. It was during this session of the 
legislature that a survey and appropriation 
was obtained through his personal efforts, for 
the construction of the Glen's Falls Feeder. 
He was re-electedto the Assembly the follow- 
ing year, and such was his popularity that 
there were only 17 votes cast against him in 
town. He was again elected to the Assembly 
in 1828. To him, more than any other man, 
is the credit due for opening up the resources 
of the place and preparing the way for that 
healthy development and growth, which 
makes it to-day one of the great business 
centres of Northern New York. As is shown 
by the record, Mr. McDonald was chosen 
one of the vestrymen of the Episcopal Church 
at its first organization. At the formation of 
the old Commercial Bank, he was elected its 
president, which position he held with great 
acceptance for a term of years. From that 
time forth he kept retired from the toils and 
cares of public life, devoting his leisure to the 
management of his estate, and the remainder 
of his days was passed in serene tranquillity. 
He died on Sunday, the eleventh of Sep- 





YBROS.NEVY' 



McG— Mer] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



513 



tember, 1870, and his remains were deposited 
in the new cemetery, where a large and costly 
monument marks the place of his earthly rest. 

McGraw, John. — Among the most act- 
ive and useful forces of a nation's life is a large 
class of the higher ranges of business men, 
those who originate the enterprises of the 
period, and direct and control the industries 
pertaining to them. From these result a 
nation's prosperity, and the foundation of its 
growth in wealth, commerce, and the eleva- 
tion and refinement which accompany them. 
Eminent among this class of men was the sub- 
ject of this notice, John McGraw, who died 
at Ithaca, May 4th, 1877, aged 62 years. 
Born in Dryden, Tompkins County, in 18 15, 
a period when the country was new, and 
wealth and its surroundings almost unknown, 
he was educated to business as a merchant's 
clerk, and from his early manhood, when he 
entered business for himself, with the hard- 
earned savings from a small salary, he began 
to develop especially those intellectual forces 
which characterize the man of supeiior abil- 
ity in the management of affairs. When first 
launching in business for himself, it was in 
copartnership with his brother Thomas, who 
died in 1837. The subject of this sketch 
continued this business alone until 1840, 
when he moved to New Hudson, Alleghany 
County, and entered the lumber trade. 
About the year 1850, he moved to New York, 
and became largely interested in business. 
In 1 86 1, he moved to Ithaca, where he resided 
until his death. Always in feeble health, he 
was physically unable to attend to the minor 
details of business, and remitted them wholly 
to others. He dealt with principles and 
ideas, boldly grasping the outlines of import- 
ant projects which commanded his attention, 
and his judgment, once convinced of their 



soundness and utility, followed up with all the 
force of his character any enterprise once 
entered upon. As he was ripened by years 
and experience, the results of his great in- 
dustry were represented by a large accumula- 
tion of wealth, no inconsiderable portion of 
which has been devoted to the benefit of 
mankind. He was an early and life-long 
friend of the late Ezra Cornell, and in full 
sympathy with his ideas in the founding of 
Cornell University, and was one of its earli- 
est trustees. His clear, practical head has 
always been a power in the management of 
its interests, and his noble gift of the Library 
Building, at a cost of $150,000, is an endur- 
ing monument to his generosity and desire to 
promote the interests of education. In all 
his relations with men, he was kind, affable, 
and sympathetic. In his business he com- 
bined great force and boldness with great cau- 
tion and sagacity. He was upright, prompt, 
true, and sensitive to the nicest shade of 
honor. His friendships were based upon 
what he deemed deserving qualities, and 
were not lightly awarded ; but the man who 
had his confidence always had a friend, warm, 
true, and if in need, sufficient for any service 
that friendship could ask or command. He 
made few professions, few verbal demonstra- 
tions of his interior life. But his active, prac- 
tical life was a living exponent of that within 
which abounded with faith, hope, courage 
and fidelity — the qualities which make up and 
stamp the noble man. With these for his 
guidance, he has worked faithfully and with 
rare ability in the sphere wherein God was 
pleased to place him. Few men, now that 
his days are ended, have better title to the 
award — " Well done, thou good and faithful." 

Merrick, Moses, was born November 
17th, 181 1, in Chenango County, N. Y., 



5H 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Loc 



where he resided until eleven years old, during 
which time he received a common-school 
education. He afterward lived in St. Law- 
rence County three years, then moved to Jef- 
ferson County, and for a short time was in the 
employ of Jesse Smith. While with him he 
attended Belleville Academy part of the time. 
His next move was at Clayton, when he 
commenced clerking for Jesse Smith & Co., 
his brother, Eldridge G. Merrick, being the 
company : here he remained several years. 
In course of time he was admitted a partner 
to the business, when the firm style changed 
to E. G. Merrick & Co., and continued until 
1867, when it was discontinued. During 
that period, they established a forwarding and 
commission house at Cleveland, Ohio, under 
the firm name of D. N. Barney & Co., where 
the subject of this sketch spent three years, 
attending to the business duties of the estab- 
lishment. In the spring of 1845, Moses 
Merrick opened another business at Oswego, 
under the firm name of Merrick, Davis & 
Co., transacting general forwarding and com- 
mission business. He also owned one third 
interest in the Ontario warehouse at Oswego, 
where he also owns real estate, besides pine 
lands in Michigan. In 1850, Mr. Davis 
died, when the firm became M. Merrick & 
Co., which style still continues. 

The firm bought their present mills, " Co- 
lumbia," in i860. These mills have a storage 
capacity of 200,000 bushels, and are furnished 
with five run of stone. The firm are also largely 
interested in the " Genesee" Mills, water-lots, 
saw-mill and barrel factory, at Fulton, N. Y. 
During the present firm's existence, they also 
built the " Seneca" Mills, with fifteen run of 
stone, which was burned to the ground in 
1864. Mr. Merrick stands high in the com- 
munity as a Christian gentleman, a philan- 
thropist, and, in every way, beyond the im- 



putation of ever designing wrong to any one 
with whom he has transacted business during 
long years of a useful life. The writer has 
known him long; and most truly can it be 
said he is an honest man, upright and fair 
in all his dealings and associations in life. 
He is of sanguine temperament, pleasant, 
affable address, and is one of the actual pio- 
neers of Northern New York. 

Lockwood, D. N. — This distinguished 
and promising jurist was born in East Ham- 
burg, N. Y., June 1st, 1844. In his younger 
days he received the usual advantages af- 
forded by the common schools. But at the 
age of fourteen he came to Buffalo, and at- 
tended the Central School. At the age of 
seventeen, he entered Union College, from 
which institution he graduated with honors, 
July 27th, 1865, his class being the last that 
ever did so under the celebrated Dr. Nott. 
In November, 1865, he commenced reading 
law with Messrs. Humphrey & Parsons; was 
admitted to the bar May 19th, 1866, and 
became a partner with his former preceptor, 
Mr. Humphrey, taking the place of Mr. Par- 
sons, who moved to the West. Filled with 
an honorable emulation, it was not long be- 
fore he became known as a rising man in his 
profession. In 1871, he was nominated for 
district-attorney, and, though defeated, ran 
1500 ahead of his ticket. In 1874, he was 
renominated, and elected by a majority of 
1500. In 1876, he received the nomination 
for Congress, and was elected over a very 
strong opponent. In the community in 
which he lives, he enjoys the confidence of 
all who know him, regardless of party or 
condition. Being still young, he can enjoy 
the fruit of the seed he has sown, while his 
nature is susceptible of enjoyment, and the 
stamina of life have not weakened and de- 



Loo-Lor| 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



5'7 



cayed. He has all the elements of happi- 
ness within his reach, and they are of his own 
creation. 

Loomis, Hon. Arphaxed, was born 
April 9th, 1798, at Winchester, Ct. His 
parents, Thaddeus and Lois Loomis, moved 
to Salisbury, Herkimer County, N. Y., when 
the subject of this sketch was only three years 
old. 

He had all the advantages of the good com- 
mon schools of his adopted home, and became 
well versed in the common branches, including 
arithmetic and grammar, and made some prog- 
ress in Latin. At the age of fifteen years, he 
commenced to teach school. The next year 
he entered Fairfield Academy, and continued 
to teach and study alternately for four years, 
and acquired a fair classical education. He 
then commenced the study of law in the office 
of William I. Dodge, of Johnstown, Montgom- 
ery County, N. Y. Shortly after, he moved to 
Jefferson County, where he taught a short time, 
and then pursued his legal studies in several 
offices, last and mainly with Justin Butterfield, 
of Sackett's Harbor. He was admitted to the 
bar in January, 1822, and at once became a 
partner of his late preceptor, with whom he 
continued two years, when he moved to Little 
Falls, where he has since resided. Here he soon 
acquired a fair and successful practice. He 
has filled the positions of Surrogate of Herki- 
mer County, First Judge of the Common Pleas 
Court, member of Congress 1838-9, member 
New York Assembly, 1841, 1842, and again 
in 1853 ; was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention, 1846; and was one of the Com- 
missioners on New York Code of Legal 
Procedure, 1847-50. In every place he has 
held, his influence has been marked and use- 
ful and he has especially left his impress in le- 
11 



gislation, in the constitution of 1846, and in 
the Code of Procedure. 

Lorillard, Peter. — Mr. Lorillard was a 
native of New York City and was one of 
the oldest of her merchants. His father, 
Peter Lorillard, Senior, who died many years 
ago, was, with his brothers, one of the many 
men whose energy and hard labor resulted 
not only in gaining them wealth, but in pro- 
moting the prosperity which the metropolis of 
the United States now enjoys. Descended 
from an ancient Huguenot family, the three 
brothers, Jacob, Peter, and George, com- 
menced life in humble circumstances, but by 
dint of hard labor amassed a competency 
which their heirs have greatly added to. 
The mother of deceased subject of this sketch 
was a daughter of Nathaniel Griswold, long 
since dead, but during his lifetime was one 
of the most prominent merchants. His par- 
ents being possessed of ample means, Mr. 
Lorillard received an excellent education, and 
after leaving school connected himself with 
his father and uncle, Peter and George, in the 
tobacco business; possessing uncommon busi- 
ness capacity, he soon materially aided his 
firm in its progress to prosperity, and upon 
the death of his uncle, who was a bachelor, 
he found himself left the heir to a fortune 
valued at some $200,000. Upon the death of 
his father, Mr. Lorillard succeeded to the 
business, which prospered so well that it 
brought to its proprietor millions of dollars, 
and made it, what it now is, one of the largest 
tobacco houses in this city. 

The deceased married many years ago and 
survived his widow, by whom he had a large 
family of children. For many years past, he 
had ceased to concern himself personally in 
the affairs of his business, these being attended 



5 i8 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[New 



to by his sons, who were the virtual proprietors. 
To the poor of New York and elsewhere, his 
death was greatly regretted, for they found in 
him a most liberal and kind-hearted benefactor, 
and the possession of this charitable disposition 
he inherited from his father and uncles, who 
were noted for their unquestioning liberalities 
and for the prompt manner in which they re- 
sponded to all demands made upon their be- 
nevolence. 

In the circle in which he moved, deceased 
was greatly esteemed and respected, as one 
of the old men of standing in the community 
and the remains of another and past genera- 
tion. His departure will be lamented by all 
who knew him, although his ripe age has 
rendered his death a looked-for event for some 
time past. 

He died October 6th, 1867. 

Newman, E. J., was born May 3d, 181 7, 

at Pompey, Onondaga County, N. Y. His 
father's name was Amos Newman, who came 
from Vermont at an early date, and had to 
clear the woods away for his farm. Mr. 
Newman attended school at Pompey Centre 
till he was nineteen, when he left and com- 
menced farming ; this he continued till he 
was thirty-six years old. He then moved to 
Akron, Erie County, N. Y., where he built a 
flour-mill and cement works, the capacity of 
the former being fifty barrels of flour per day, 
and the latter five hundred barrels of cement 
annually. These same works he continues to 
operate, in company with his brother, Leroy 
Newman ; W. C. & H. L., sons of the 
above, being partners. The capacity of the 
flour-mills has been doubled, and the cement 
works have facilities for turning out seventy- 
five thousand barrels per annum ; they find 
a market for their cement all over the Western 
country. Eight years ago, the subject of this 



sketch moved to Buffalo, where he has since 
resided and proved himself to be a valuable 
citizen and a sterling business man. 

Newman, John, son of Thomas B. New- 
man, born in Saratoga County, near Ballston, 
N. Y., October 16th, 1796. When quite 
young, removed to Oneida County, near 
Rome. Resided there until twenty-one years 
of age, when he removed to New York City. 

Was married January 1st, 1823, to Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Joseph and Esther Miller, 
then residing in New York. The birthplace 
and early residence of Mrs. Newman were at 
Mamaroneck, Westchester County, N. Y. 

After removal to New York, Mr. Newman 
became early identified with the then new 
business of constructing machinery for steam- 
boats. He was at different times connected 
with most of the larger New York establish- 
ments in this business at that day. 

In 1828, the firm of Hall & Newman (of 
which he was a member) built the beam- 
engine and boilers for the steamboat De Witt 
Clinton, a large Hudson River boat. This 
was one of the largest, perhaps the largest 
steamboat engine that had been constructed 
at that time. The drawings, still preserved in 
the family, are of interest, showing the prog- 
ress made at that early day, the arrangement 
and construction being but little different from 
that of the engines now in use on the Hudson 
River and Sound. 

In the autumn of 1832, immediately after 
the first visit of the Asiatic cholera to this 
country — by which the business of New York 
was nearly paralyzed — at the solicitation of 
Oliver Newberry, of Detroit, Mich., he left 
the Novelty Works, New York, with which 
he had been associated since its organization, 
and spent the winter at Detroit, assisting in 
the construction of the steamboat Michigan 



New — Nox] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



523 



(No. 1). This boat was of the largest class 
of that day, and was propelled by two low-pres- 
sure beam-engines. The following spring, the 
steamboat owners of Buffalo, N. Y., urged 
him to locate in business in their city. He 
removed from New York to Buffalo, where he 
continued to reside from June 30th, 1833, 
until the time of his death. He became 
prominently identified with the construction 
of machinery for lake steamers, making a 
specialty of steam boilers. With fortune 
varying with the vicissitudes of the times, he 
continued in the business until a few years 
before his death, when he retired from active 
life, with an ample competence. He died 
August 28th, 1867, universally respected and 
esteemed for his high integrity, unassuming 
worth, and many generous and genial quali- 
ties. ** 

Newman, William H. H., second son 
of John Newman, was born in New York 
City, February 8th, 1826. Removed thence 
to Buffalo, N. Y., where he has resided since 
June 30th, 1 83^. Early in life he entered 
the office of his father's iron-works, soon be- 
came prominent in the business, and con- 
tinued associated with it while his father re- 
mained in active life, a portion of the time 
having an interest in the business. Was mar- 
ried October 2d, 1849, to Jenisha A., daugh- 
ter of Hon. Latham A. Burrows, of same 
city. 

Having some time previously secured fav- 
orable connections for supplying some lead- 
ing goods, in the year 1858 he opened a store 
on Main street, corner of Dayton, for the 
sale of iron, metals, belting, etc., supplying 
railroads, machine-shops, engineers, and 
others, with goods required by them ; a 
business to which his experience as to the 
wants of such customers had fitted him. 



With energy, by close attention to busi- 
ness, and strict adherence to a few plain but 
pointed rules or maxims, which marked and 
characterized all his business life, with rigid 
promptness, accuracy, and thoroughness, he 
was enabled to build up a business of goodly 
proportions, of value to the interests of the 
city, and ultimately attain to a position of 
independence and prominence among the 
merchants and business men of Buffalo. 

He has been successful in all of his busi- 
ness pursuits, from a rare combination of in- 
dustry and judgment, and has gained the 
confidence and respect of the whole com- 
munity, by at all times exhibiting a rectitude 
of character which never wavered from a 
proper direction. He has done much, and 
all honorably ; and now, dwelling in the 
affluence and honor gained by his industry 
and talents, he can look upon the past un- 
sullied career with conscious pride and satis- 
faction. 

Noxon, B. Davis, the subject of this 
sketch, son of Dr. Robert Noxon, of Pough- 
keepsie, N. Y., was born in that city April 2 1st, 
1788, of a family highly respected in itself and 
in its numerous connections, long settled in 
the eastern part of the State. He received 
a good academic education, and afterward 
pursued the study of the law in the office 
of Philo Ruggles, a lawyer of reputation. 
Having been admitted to the bar, he com- 
menced practice at Marcellus, in Onondaga 
County. He soon after married Miss Sully 
Ann Van Kleeck, daughter of Teunis Van 
Kleeck, Esq., of Poughkeepsie, who became 
the mother of twelve children, eight of whom 
still survive. After a few years' residence at 
Marcellus, Mr. Noxon removed to Onon- 
daga Hill, then the county-seat. Though 
the bar of Onondaga County then embraced 



5^4 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Nox 



among its members not a few lawyers of un- 
common ability and learning, Mr. Noxon 
early acquired a prominent position. In 
1829, he removed to Syracuse. Here he 
resided until his death, May 13th, 1869. 

Mr. Noxon possessed legal talents of the 
highest order. He was quick to seize the 
points of a case, and bold and fearless in 
presenting them to the court or jury. In the 
examination of witnesses, his skill was unsur- 
passed. His mind was logical, and he 
reasoned clearly and closely. Before he 
settled in Syracuse, he had already achieved a 
high reputation throughout Central New 
York, and for thirty or forty years he stood 
at the head of its bar, the peer of the most 
brilliant lawyers in the State. No name of 
the time is oftener found on the pages of the 
law reports. His integrity, moderation, and 
liberality are attested by the fact that, al- 
though for many years enjoying the most ex- 
tensive and important practice in Central 
New York, he retired with a competence only. 

For many years, he wielded great public 
influence in the central part of the State, and 
his name was influential in State and na- 
tional politics. He was attached to the Whig 
party, and, from conviction, acted with it as 
long as it existed. After its dissolution, he 
voted with the Democratic party. He was 
a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church. In his family relations he was most 
happy, a kind husband and father. Being 
widely known and greatly respected, the an- 
nouncement of his death elicited marked ex- 
pressions of sorrow. The bar of Onondaga 
County appointed one of the most distin- 
guished of their number, the Honorable 
Charles B. Sedgwick, to prepare and deliver 
before them, and a large concourse of citi- 
zens which the occasion brought together, a 
eulogy of the deceased. Many other emi- 



nent jurists and judges in all parts of the 
State were invited to, and did unite in testi- 
fying to his extraordinary qualities as a law- 
yer and a man. We cannot better close this 
brief sketch of Mr. Noxon's character, than 
by quoting from one or two of these ad- 
dresses. 

Said Mr. Sedgwick, in his oration, after re- 
ferring to Mr. Noxon's earlier career : 

" The nisi prius courts were held by the 
judges of the Supreme Court — the giants of 
the profession — the elder Spencer, Kent, 
Piatt, Van Ness, Livingston, Tompkins, and 
Yates. Lawyers of the highest reputation, 
from all parts of the State — Van Vechten, 
Elisha Williams, Emmett, Daniel Cady, Mar- 
tin Van Buren — were constant attendants 
upon our courts. These were the men with 
whom the young lawyers of that day were to 
measure their strength, and such the tribunals 
which were to decide where victory was to 
be awarded ; and among such lawyers, Mr. 
Noxon was conspicuous. In knowledge of 
this branch of the law, in careful preparation, 
in the acumen necessary to mark every nice 
distinction, in the skill requisite to detect 
and expose fraud and perjury, in boldness, 
tact, pertinacity, in his hard logic for the 
court, and his skilful appeals to juries, he was 
in the front rank of his profession." .... 

The Honorable William F. Allen, of the 
Court of Appeals, writing to the same public 
meeting, said of Mr. Noxon : 

"He was a great man, and worthy of all 
admiration. He was strong in his native 
good sense and sound judgment; strong in 
the knowledge of the law, in the rudiments 
and principles of which he was < thoroughly 
rooted and grounded ;' strong in his knowl- 
edge of human nature, and his ability and 
tact in the use of that knowledge; strong in 
his self-reliance, strong in his affections and 



OSG] 



liKKJKAPlUCAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



5^7 



social ties, drawing to himself, with cords of 
love, respect, and affection, all who came to 
know him; strong in his love of right and 
justice, truth and equity." 

Many like estimates of him are contained 
in the letters and addresses of other eminent 
men, in the memorial published by the bar 
of Onondaga County, intended to perpetuate 
the memory of the honored dead. 

Osgood, Hon. Jason C, was born in 
the town of Nassau, Rensselaer County, N.Y., 
November 16th, 1804. At an early age, his 
father moved to Madison County, where he 
purchased a mill, and here Mr. Osgood's me- 
chanical ingenuity was first developed in the 
many little improvements he devised, and 
added to the machinery in the mill. His 
ambition was to be a mechanic and an inven- 
tor, and it was during the year 1833 that he 
obtained his first patent for a horse-hair pick- 
ing and curling machine which produced a 
revolution in that branch of industry. About 
this time, he moved to Virginia, and engaged 
in the performance of contract work on pub- 
lic improvements. In 1838, he obtained the 
patent for a dumping and tilting wagon ; the 
invention was afterward applied to freight 
cars. In 1846, Mr. Osgood moved to Troy, 
N. Y., where he afterward resided until his 
death, which occurred April 27th, 1875. Pre- 
vious to his removal there, he, in connection 
with Daniel Carmichael, of Brooklyn, ob- 
tained a contract for deepening some of the 
State canals, during which time his fertile me- 
chanical brain invented the celebrated Os- 
good dredging-machine, by which his name 
became famous and world-wide. In 1855, he 
constructed the " double-dredger," with a 
well-hole for depositing its excavations. 

The " rock- breaker" was invented and pat- 
ened by him in 185 1, while dredging the 



Mississippi River at Des Moines Rapids. As 
there were many rocks to break, necessity 
for its work prompted and suggested the in- 
vention. One of these machines moved 
1 0,000 yards of rock on that river, and made 
his name almost as famous as the dredger. 
In 1862, Mr. Osgood invented the canal 
dredger with an endless chain, so constructed 
that it was very easy to regulate the depth 
the dredge should work. His last invention 
of note was the " ditcher," perfected in 
1870, and could be worked either by horse or 
steam [tower. As intimated, he was connected 
with many public works and improvements, 
in which employment many of the ideas of 
his invention were perfected. Among the 
most important works in which he was en- 
gaged were deepening the State canals, dredg- 
ing the Chesapeake Bay, dredging Charleston 
harbor, S. C, digging the canal through the 
Dismal Swamp, dredging the Mississippi, 
Missouri, and San Juan Rivers, and improv- 
ing the Hudson River. Mr. Osgood was in- 
terested in politics, only so far as to desire 
the furtherance of the best interests of the city 
of his adoption. In 1852, he was elected a 
member of the State Assembly. In 1857, he 
was again elected ; also in 187 1. He was a 
member of the Board of Fire Commissioners 
of Troy, serving from May 1st, 1861, until 
December 31st, 1868. He refused all other 
honors, though tendered him many times. 
He was a shrewd, careful, and successful bus- 
iness manager, and possessed a powerful brain 
and active mind. He was truly a self-made 
man — one of that class who not only gave us 
a country, but assured its wonderful progress 
and prosperity. Mr. J. C. Osgood not only 
possessed genius for mechanical achievement, 
but the qualities of noble manhood. He felt 
kindly to all; cherished no revenges. His 
judgment was anchored to the rock of integ- 



528 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Ove— Par 



rity ; genial in companionship, loving and lib- 
eral. A true representative of American 
nobility, he went to his grave crowned with 
the honor of a well-spent life. 

Ovens, Robert, was born August 12th, 
1815, in the village of Stow, Scotland, twen- 
ty-four miles distant from Edinburgh, and 
early in life learnt his trade in the vicinity of 
his birtli place. On the first of January, 1833, 
he was joined in wedlock to Miss Jeanet 
Dickson, and in the following April left with 
his wife for America. He having faith in the 
future of Western New York, came immedi- 
ately to Buffalo, and after one year's stay in 
that locality moved to Dunkirk, though only 
to stay eighteen months, and, finding he had 
a preference for the first city of his adoption, 
returned to Buffalo and took charge of the 
bakery and confectioner shop of Mr. Atkins, 
remaining with him until Mr. A. sold out 
his business, when he accepted the same po- 
sition under Mr. Spencer, where he continued 
till 1848, when his ambition for promoting 
himself prompted him to commence in a 
small way for himself, which he did on Seneca 
street, just below the present site of the post- 
office, which he occupied twenty-four years. 
In 1866, he, in company with his son, W. S. 
Ovens, bought out their present location and 
business, Nos. 55 and 57 Ellicott street, from 
D. B. Fuller, together with his entire aerated 
bread machinery, continuing to operate his 
old store on Seneca street as a branch till 
1872, when they concentrated all their business 
under the present roof. This move was ne- 
cessitated by the fact that their business had 
so steadily increased the old place was much 
too small, which indeed proved their new 
quarters — for they have built and enlarged 
till the factory now occupies from Nos. 59 to 
67 Ellicott street, and is one of the best bak- 



eries and cracker manufactories extant, fitted 
up with all the latest and best improved ma- 
chinery, including one of Vicker's celebrated 
mixing, breaking, and cutting machines. 
From a small beginning the business gradu- 
ally increased till they consumed as high as 
eighty barrels of flour daily, and the goods 
they make find a market in most of the larger 
cities ot the country. This has been accom- 
plished by strict personal attention to business, 
which for some years was shared by his wife, 
who daily attended to the wants of their cus- 
tomers by personally attending to the Seneca 
street store. At the age when most men re- 
tire from active business, Mr. Ovens remains 
hale, vigorous, laborious, intelligent, and ge- 
nial, the same benevolent friend to the needy 
and industrious he has been for the last forty 
years, still emphatically showing his faith by 
his works. 

Park, Paul, was born in Canada, in 
1814, and is thesonof S. and H. Park, and is 
one of a family of nine. At the age of twelve 
he lost his father. Had the benefit of com- 
mon-schools only. After finishing his educa- 
tion, and until 1840, was in the employ of 
various houses as clerk, etc., at which time 
he joined in partnership with two others and 
built a gang-mill on Grand River, Ontario, 
which business and partnership proved an 
unhappy one, the result being that Mr. Park 
was left with but little means. 

But he bought another mill, mostly on 
credit, fitted it up and operated it till 1855, 
when he moved to Buffalo, where he engaged 
in the lumber business, which he has carried 
on successfully for more than twenty-one 
years. Though now well along in years, he 
is still engaged in active business, and enjoys 
the respect of the community in which he 
lives. 






■ ■ ■ 









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Par— Pie] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



537 



Parks, Salmon A., was bom at Moreau, 
Saratoga County, N. Y., February 22d, 1827. 
His father's ancestry, back to his great grand- 
father, were settlers in this county before the 
Revolution, and his mother was formerly from 
Great Barrington, Mass. His parents moved 
to Sandy Hill, Washington County, when the 
subject of this sketch was only six years old, 
where he remained twenty years. In early 
life he was engaged rafting and sawing lum- 
ber, at which he continued three or four years, 
receiving his education during the winter 
months. In April, 1846, he first entered a 
paper-mill at Baker's Falls, and commenced 
to work at the bottom rung of the ladder. 
By close attention to business, he soon found 
promotion, and gradually did he pass through 
every department in the manufacture of paper, 
till he thoroughly and practically mastered 
every branch. In 1852, he was married to 
Miss Harriet A. Hewitt, of Saratoga County, 
by whom he has had seven children. For 
one year after this eventful step, he continued 
to work as journeyman, when, being am- 
bitious and desiring to better his and his fam- 
ily's position, he, in 1853, moved to West 
Milton, where he associated his knowledge 
with the capital of others, and commenced 
manufacturing news paper. In i860, the 
firm changed to the Pioneer Paper Company, 
where he remained interested until 1865, 
when he sold his interest and joined hands 
with Hon. George West at Rock City Falls. 
This partnership continued until 1872, when 
he moved to Glen's Falls, where he has since 
resided. Here he became interested in the 
Glen's Falls Paper Company, assuming the 
sole superintendency of the works, which 
turn out about one hundred tons of news 
paper per month, shipped principally to New 
York and Brooklyn papers. As a man and 
citizen he stands deservedly high, and at 



present he has the honor to be president of 
the village of Glen's Falls. 

Perry, John Strong, of Albany, N. Y., 
was born at Farmington, Ct., December 17th, 
18 1 5. His paternal ancestors were Perrys, 
Lords, and Leavenworths ; maternal ances- 
tors, the Treadwells and Pomeroys. 

Mr. Perry had only the advantages of a 
common-school education till the age of four- 
teen ; afterward he was a clerk in Hartford, 
Ct , for one year, and subsequently for thir- 
teen years in the old house of the Webbs in 
Albany. 

He embarked in the manufacture of stoves, 
under the firm of Treadwell & Perry, in 
1843, an d has been indefatigable in the im- 
provement of stoves and furnaces to an ex- 
tent not surpassed by any others. Industry, 
system, order, and exactness are among his 
leading traits. He strives to act upon the 
principle that " what is worth doing at all is 
worth doing well." 

He was one of the founders of the Na- 
tional Stove Association, and for several 
years its first President; also the first Presi- 
dent of the National Patent Association. 

The firm of Perry & Co., of which he is 
the senior partner, are largely engaged in the 
manufacture of stoves, which find a market in 
nearly every State and Territory of the Union, 
as well as in many foreign countries. This 
firm have three large foundries in Albany, and 
have lately contracted for the labor of 900 
convicts in the State Prison at Sing Sing, N. Y. 

Pierce, R. V., M.D. — Every nation 
owes its peculiar character, its prosperity — in 
brief, every thing that distinguishes it as an 
individual nation — to the few men belonging 
to it who have the courage to step beyond 
the boundaries prescribed by partisanship, 



538 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Pie 



professional tradition, or social customs. In 
professional no less than in political life, 
there occasionally arise men who burst the 
fetters of conventionalism, indignantly reject- 
ing the arbitrary limits imposed upon their 
activity, and step boldly forward into new 
fields of enterprise. We call these men self- 
made. The nation claims them as her proud- 
est ornaments — the men upon whom she can 
rely, in peace for her glory, in war for her 
succor. Of this class of men the medical 
profession has furnished a distinguished ex- 
ample in the successful and justly celebrated 
physician, Dr. R. V.Pierce, of Buffalo, N. Y., 
and any history treating of the industries 
of the Empire State would be incomplete 
without a sketch of his useful life and earnest 
work. We regret that space will not permit 
a more detailed account of his early history 
and parentage, our limits allowing only a 
brief survey of his life and the herculean la- 
bors which his indefatigable industry has en- 
abled him to accomplish. His ancestors 
were among the early settlers of Massachu- 
setts, but soon after the Revolution they re- 
moved to Central New York. Ray Vaughn 
Pierce was born August 6th, 1840, at Stark, 
Herkimer County. While an infant, his par- 
enis removed to Venango County, Pa. He 
early developed a marked aptitude and love 
for study and scientific research, which fore- 
shadowed his useful and active life. Select- 
ing the medical profession for his life-work, 
at the age of eighteen he entered into the 
diligent study of the healing art. Four years 
later, he graduated with the highest honors, 
having ranked as one of the most brilliant 
and earnest students. Thus specially edu- 
cated for the profession which he so eminently 
adorns, he early supplemented his studies by 
extensive and original research in its several 
departments. He brought to his chosen work 



acute perceptive and reflective powers, and 
that indomitable energy that neither shrinks 
at obstacles nor yields to circumstance. 

As indicated by the accompanying steel 
portrait, in physique Dr. Pierce is an ideal 
type of American manhood. Of medium 
stature, robust, his appearance is character- 
ized by a healthful, vigorous vitality, while 
the full, lofty brow, and handsomely-cut fea- 
tures, are indicative of that comprehensive 
mental power and remarkable business sa- 
gacity which have combined to place him 
among the distinguished men of the age. 

Whoever is, to a great extent, dependent 
upon others for the execution of labor, 
must possess, in no ordinary degree, the 
power of reading character, that he may be 
enabled to select as his agents men of 
sound integrity as well as ability. Whether 
this faculty be intuitive, or acquired by ex- 
perience and the study of physiognomy and 
phrenology, or partly intuitive and partly ac- 
quired, to those who know him the fact is 
obvious that Dr. Pierce possesses it in an ex- 
traordinary degree, reading character at a 
glance, and seldom erring in his first impres- 
sion. This faculty is a rare endowment, and 
cannot be too highly prized. It has been 
said, and we think not unwisely, that the 
greatest blemish on President Grant's admin- 
istration was due to the non-possession of 
this faculty by the chief magistrate. On the 
contrary, the princely Stewart possessed it in 
an eminent degree. Like the latter, the ex- 
ercise of this invaluable faculty has enabled 
Dr. Pierce to secure the most efficient and 
honorable men as his assistants and subordi- 
nates. He is thus enabled to labor thorough- 
ly and successfully in several departments, 
while his reputation is fully and honorably 
sustained by the excellence of the work ac- 
complished. 



Pie] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



539 



Another characteristic prominently dis- 
played by the subject of this sketch is an in- 
tensely energetic disposition, which he has 
reduced by rigid practice to a firm habit of 
thoroughly accomplishing every undertaking. 
He believes, and his practice is in strict con- 
formity with his conviction, that whatever is 
worth doing is worth doing well. Although 
enjoying an extensive and lucrative practice 
at Titusville, Pa., the inherent energy and 
honesty of the man would not permit him to 
pursue the narrow routine of practice pre- 
scribed by the " school." If there were er- 
rors in its methods of practice, he desired to 
abandon them. If the other schools possessed 
advantages over his own, he wished to intro- 
duce them into his own practice, regardless 
of the proscription of his "school." He 
carefully investigated foreign methods of 
practice, and by original researches in materia 
mcdica, discovered the remedies which have 
made his name a cherished household word 
in American homes. Assured of their un- 
paralleled efficacy in the diseases for which 
he compounded them, he naturally conceived 
the idea of extending his practice — of making 
it world-wide. To realize this ambitious pro- 
ject, Dr. Pierce removed, in 1867, to Buffalo, 
N. Y., and there established the World's Dis- 
pensary, for the treatment of chronic diseases 
— the greatest institution of its kind in the 
world, and, in many respects, the only one. 

Dr. Pierce possesses, in an eminent degree, 
that rare executive talent which can thor- 
oughly systematize and reduce the most 
extensive and complex business, even in its 
minutest details, to perfect order. This fact 
is apparent t to every person who visits the 
World's Dispensary, passes through its several 
departments, and observes the great diversity 
ol duties being performed by more than two 
hundred employes, yet every thing being 



done with the regularity of clockwork. He 
cannot fail to perceive that its manager is richly 
endowed with that comprehensive executive 
talent which enables him to conduct with ease 
and success those vast branches of industry 
which are almost infinite in detail. This fact 
can only be fully appreciated after a visit to his 
far-famed Dispensary. Entering the printing 
department, the visitor will see twelve large 
steam presses, which are kept constantly run- 
ning throughout the entire year on pamphlet 
literature for gratuitous distribution. These 
pamphlets are issued in many languages, and 
scattered broadcast throughout the civilized 
world. In the bindery department, are four 
folding-machines, doing the work of a hun- 
dred expert hand-folders ; and also machinery 
for stitching, trimming, and otherwise facili- 
tating the work. In the publishing depart- 
ment, we find an extensive and complicated 
business carried on through a thousand 
agents, by whom Dr. Pierce's large and pop- 
ular work, " The People's Common Sense 
Medical Adviser," is represented throughout 
the United States. The successful conduct 
of the agency department alone requires 
thorough organization and careful manage- 
ment. In the advertising department, the 
visitor sees a large number of clerks busily 
engaged in receiving and assorting the four 
thousand newspapers, magazines, and other 
periodicals, in which the proprietor advertises, 
carefully recording each insertion as - well as 
omission of the notices. All advertisements 
are contracted for through written and special 
agreement with publishers. All publishers 
failing to insert the notices according to the 
terms of the contract are promptly notified 
and required to make good such omissions. 
In the pharmaceutical department, where the 
proprietary or Family Medicines are prepared, 
every process is conducted in a strictly scien- 



12 



540 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Pie 



tific manner. The laboratory is neat and 
cleanly, and its appurtenances are arranged 
in the most perfect order. The drug-mills, 
stills, percolating and filtering apparatus, are 
all of the latest and most approved kind. In 
the department for the special examination 
and treatment of the patients (soon to be re- 
moved to the Invalids' Hotel), the same 
thorough and systematic organization pre- 
vails. 

Dr. Pierce's Medical and Surgical Faculty, 
at present embracing nine physicians and sur- 
geons, is thoroughly organized according to 
the several departments of medical and surgi- 
cal practice — each member being an expert 
specialist. Commenting on Dr. Pierce's 
Medical Faculty, the Buffalo Express says : 
" By associating with himself only those phy- 
sicians and surgeons who possess the most 
thorough qualifications and varied, extensive 
experience, Dr. Pierce is entitled to the utmost 
confidence of his patients, whose best inter- 
ests he seems ever anxious to subserve." 

The medical and surgical practice may be 
considered under three general divisions. 

i. The first division includes all cases 
treated without personal consultation. The 
original and ingenious system of diagnosis 
devised by Dr. Pierce to determine the char- 
acter and extent of disease in these cases, is 
fully explained in his popular work, entitled 
" The People's Common Sense Medical Ad- 
viser." He perceived that in each of the 
natural sciences the investigator proceeds ac- 
cording to a system of signs. The geologist 
in his cabinet accurately determines and de- 
scribes the cleft of rock, which he has never 
seen, from the minute specimen on his table, 
and the chemist in his laboratory notes the 
constituents of the sun with the same preci- 
sion that he analyzes a crystal of rock salt. 
The analogous system developed by Dr. I 



Pierce in medical science is worthy of his 
genius, and has made his name justly cele- 
brated. 

2. The second division embraces those 
more complicated cases which require a per- 
sonal examination, after which they are al- 
lowed to return to their homes to pursue the 
prescribed treatment. 

3. In a practice so extensive there would 
necessarily be many obstinate and compli- 
cated cases, as well as those requiring surgical 
operations and careful nursing, which would 
demand the immediate and personal attention 
of the physician. To provide a real home 
for this class of patients, Dr. Pierce has erect- 
ed that magnificent edifice known as the 
Invalids' Hotel, at a cost of nearly a quarter 
of a million dollars. The same energetic 
spirit that prompted him to lay so substantial 
a foundation for his professional life, and sub- 
sequently to preface every undertaking by 
careful preparation for its thorough and de- 
tailed execution, he has manifested in the 
construction of this elegant and commodious 
hotel. Note its architectural features, its un- 
usually strong and massive walls, its graceful 
and lofty towers and pavilions, and its spa- 
cious verandas. Observe, too, its substan- 
tially-constructed passenger elevator, its ex- 
quisitely-wrought furniture, especially de- 
signed and adapted to the architecture. 
Walk upon the tiled floors, or luxuriate in its 
health-giving baths, which rival in elegance 
of construction the far-famed baths of the 
Orient. In each and every detail, the 
thoughtful observer sees the reflection of the 
founder's dominant characteristic trait, viz., 
thoroughness. In the conduct of the hotel, 
the same systematic organization is observed 
as at the Dispensary. 

For effective execution, the general divides 
his army into corps, subdividing the corps 







' 




ry^^c^-^-v 



PowJ 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



543 



into divisions, the divisions into brigades, the 
brigades into regiments, and the regiments 
into companies, each order and sub-order 
having its responsible leader. In a similar 
manner has Dr. Pierce subdivided his large 
corps of professional and other assistants, 
thus obtaining thorough efficiency in each 
department. His original methods of prac- 
tice are fully explicated in his work on 
Domestic Medicine, which we have already 
mentioned. It well deserves the popularity 
it has won, by its terse, practical explanations 
and illustrations of physiological and hygienic 
laws. As a manual of Domestic Medicine, 
it is pronounced by professional critics to be 
the best work which has ever appeared. A 
volume of over nine hundred pages, hand- 
somely bound in cloth, and selling at $1.50, 
obviously its compilation was no labor for 
self-interest, the proceeds barely defraying the 
expense of publication alone. We can there- 
fore well believe the author's prefatory asser- 
tion that it was a work undertaken solely in 
the interests of humanity. His labor, how- 
ever, has not been unrewarded. The day 
has passed when the benefactors of humanity 
were allowed to live in ignominious poverty, 
their sacrifices, their labors unrecompensed. 
To-day, the benefactors of the people — the 
men who devote their lives and energies to 
the interests of humanity — these are the men 
whom the world delights to honor, and whom 
it rewards with princely fortunes. As an 
earnest worker for the welfare of his fellow- 
men, Dr. Pierce has won their warmest sym- 
pathy and esteem. While seeking to be 
their servant only, he has become a prince 
among them. Yet the immense fortune 
lavished upon him by a generous people he 
hoards not, but invests in the erection and 
establishment of institutions directly con- 
tributive to the public good, the people thus 



realizing, in their liberal patronage, a new 
meaning of that beautiful Oriental custom of 
casting bread upon the waters. Noted in 
both public and private life for his unswerv- 
ing integrity, and all those sterling virtues 
which ennoble manhood, Dr. Pierce ranks 
high among those few men whose names the 
Empire State is justly proud to inscribe upon 
her roll of honor. Ambitious, yet moved by 
an ambition strictly amenable to the most 
discriminating and well-balanced judgment, 
his future career promises to be one of un- 
paralleled activity and usefulness, ably sup- 
plementing the work he has already accom- 
plished by a life at once noble in effort, envi- 
able in its grand results. 

Powers, D. W. — The subject of this 
sketch was born at Batavia, Genesee Co., 
N. Y., June 14th, 1818; his parents being 
among the early settlers of that county. Mr. 
Powers was of an aspiring disposition, and 
at the age of twenty he determined to leave 
the precincts of his old home to seek his for- 
tunes in a clime where the business current 
was not so stagnant and his efforts for future 
distinction more certain of accomplishment. 
So he moved to Rochester, N. Y., and ac- 
cepted a humble position in a hardware 
store, where he remained twelve years, during 
which time he received marked promotion. 
Having formed a taste for banking, he in 
1850 issued the following card : 

" NEW EXCHANGE OFFICE. 

" The subscriber has located himself in the 
Eagle Block, Rochester, one door west of 
the Monroe Bank, on Buffalo street, for the 
purpose of doing the Exchange Business in all 
its branches. JSTUncurrent monies bought 
and sold. Exchange on New York and the 
eastern cities, bought and sold. Certificates of 



544 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[PRA 



Deposits in banks, and notes payable at dis- 
tant points collected. Canada and western 
bank notes discounted at the lowest rates. 
Drafts on Buffalo can be had at all times. 
Foreign and American gold and silver coins, 
bought and sold. l^p^Deposits received 
and interest allowed. Monies remitted to 
England, Ireland, and Scotland, and other 
portions of the old world. 

" By prompt attention to business I hope 
to merit a share of public patronage. 

" I am authorized to refer to Ebenezer 
Watts, Esq. ; George R. Clark, Esq., Cashier ; 
Ralph Lester, Esq., Cashier ; Thomas H. 
Rochester, President ; C. T. Amsden, Cashier; 
Everard Peck, Esq., President ; Isaac Hills, 
Esq. Daniel W. Powers. 

" Rochester, Monroe Co., N. Y., March 
i, 1850." 

and started in business on a small scale. The 
very place that Mr. Powers commenced 
business he does his business now, but the 
aspect of the concern is quite different. The 
small office is replaced by the most elegant 
business block west of New York City, hav- 
ing a frontage of 176 feet on State, and 175 
feet on Main street with 150 on Pindell 
alley. The main centre is faced with Ohio 
freestone elaborately carved, the blocks 
being alternately vermiculated and cut in 
panel, and is seven stories in height exclusive 
of the basement, which is of New Hamp- 
shire granite. The great wings present uni- 
form fronts. The ground floor contains one 
bank and fifteen stores; the upper stories, 
220 rooms, all of them occupied for almost 
every conceivable kind of business, which 
are communicated with from the ground 
floor by means of elegant stairways and two 
elevators which are continually in operation. 
The whole is absolutely fire-proof, and con- 



tains one of the finest art collections in 
America, the property of Mr. Powers. 
Among them are to be found the best copies 
extant from such of the old masters as Giotto, 
Michael Angelo, Raphael, Correggio, Paul 
Veronese, Murillo, Titian, Carlo Dolci, Sas- 
soferrato, Bassano, Annibali Caracci, and 
others, made especially for Mr. Powers, by art- 
ists of international reputation, each selected 
for his special aptitude to copy from certain 
masters, who, in many cases, rival the origi- 
nals in excellence, and perhaps surpass them 
in freshness and beauty of coloring. In the 
main room of this department of art, can be 
seen and heard the most perfect orchestrion 
ever made in America, and which is a con- 
tinual source of delight to all visitors. In 
addition, there has been made lately a con- 
tribution of the highest value, viz., an exten- 
sive series of double photographic views ex- 
hibited by means of stereoscopic apparatus, 
representing scenes and localities from all 
sections of the universe. The whole collec- 
tion proves Mr. Powers to be one of the 
great art connoisseurs of our country, and 
who has spared no pains to lavish his princely 
fortune for his taste in art. Mr.' D. W. 
Powers has been ever adverse to the turbu- 
lent currents incident to political life. He 
has amassed a fortune that would content 
the extravagant requirements of royalty, by 
attending wholly to one business, until he 
has become honored for his integrity and 
known as one of the most influential citizens 
of Rochester. 

Pratt, Daniel, was born in Greenwich, 
Washington County, N. Y., in 1806. In 
1833, he graduated at Union College, and 
in the same year moved to Onondaga 
County, where he read law with David D. 
Hillis at Camillus. In the fall of 1836, he 




WmSm 





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Pra] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



549 



moved to Syracuse, where he has since re- 
sided. He was admitted to the bar in July, 
1837, with Judge George F. Comstock and 
Hon. Charles B. Sedgwick, and commenced 
the practice of his profession with David 
D. Hillis, Esq. In February, 1843, he was 
appointed by Governor Bouck First Judge 
of Onondaga County. Four years later he 
was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, 
and re-elected in 1851. At the close of 
the term for which he had been re-elected, 
he returned from the bench enjoying the 
unreserved confidence of the people he had 
so long served, both as to his unquestioned 
integrity, and his great judicial ability. 
While upon the bench, both Hamilton and 
Union Colleges conferred upon him the 
degree of LL.D., a fitting tribute to his 
private and public worth. He resumed the 
practice of law January 1st, i860, forming 
a partnership with the late lamented David 
J. Mitchell, an advocate of surpassing per- 
suasive power. Two years later, Mr. Wil- 
bur M. Brown was admitted to the partner- 
ship, and the firm, as thus constituted, for 
fifteen years ranked among the first in the 
State, having an unusually lucrative and 
successful practice. Judge Pratt was 
elected as one of the counsel to prosecute 
Judge Barnard in the impeachment trial, 
and the same year received the appoint- 
ment from Governor Hoffman as one of the 
Commissioners to revise the Constituticn. 
In 1873, he was elected Attorney-General, 
a position he filled with distinction and 
honor. It is often asserted, but without 
reasonable support, that if a man have 
genius and talent he will become eminent 
in the sphere in which he moves, even if 
he has not the advantage of proper previ- 
ous training. Examples are not often given 
of men who, by the mere force of intellect, 



without its being strengthened by proper 
training and preparation, become lights in 
the various avocations and professions of 
life. Fortunately for Judge Pratt, he had 
received all the adventitious assistance of 
thorough training in mental exercise previ- 
ous to commencing the study of the law, 
and when he had mastered his profession 
he possessed an untold advantage over 
those who had been deprived of a suitable 
preparatory education. His genial disposi- 
tion, his strong intellectuality, his direct and 
positive argumentative power, strengthened 
and enforced by a fund of knowledge which 
he could draw from a thousand sources, 
soon won for him hosts of friends, and 
made him eminent in the community. It was 
not to be supposed that a man of Judge 
Pratt's ability and popularity should not 
receive some demonstration of confidence 
and esteem, hence his appointment and elec- 
tion to the positions above-mentioned. 



Pratt, Samuel F., was born May 28th, 
1807, in Windham County, Vt. He was 
the son of Samuel Pratt, Jr., who was the 
son of Captain Pratt. 

In 1 80 1, Captain Samuel Pratt made a 
long expedition into the almost savage 
wilderness of the far West, returning by the 
way of Buffalo, then but a cluster of log 
cabins. Comprehending the advantages of 
this little village, and his observations in 
his explorations on the lakes west, con- 
vinced him that this was to be the future 
outlet of a large commerce. He therefore 
determined to cast his lot here ; this was in 
1803. 

In 1804, the following year, he closed 
up his affairs in Westminster, and set out 
with his family on their tedious journey for 



55o 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCVCLOP/EDIA. 



LPra 



Buffalo, which he reached in September of 
the same year. 

Captain Pratt, eldest son of Samuel, 
and father of Samuel F. Pratt, did not em- 
igrate with his parents, but joined them in 
August, 1807, bringing with him his wife 
and Samuel F. Pratt, who was then about 
three months old. 

He led an active life, and was closely 
engaged in business or public duties until 
the time of the burning of the village. 
This severe blow so embarrassed him that 
he soon found himself without the means 
to carry on his business, but an unforeseen 
source was near at hand. Meeting a former 
friend, William Bigelow, who chanced to 
be passing through Buffalo, and knowing 
of his embarrassed condition, proposed to 
Mr. Pratt that he should assume manage- 
ment of his business interests at St. Thomas, 
Canada, and he left for that place in May, 
1818, leaving Samuel F. Pratt, who was 
then only eleven years old, in charge of his 
mother. In about one year Samuel F. 
joined his father, where he remained about 
one year and a half, when he returned to 
Buffalo, his health being so poor, and he 
died in August, 1822. 

Samuel F. Pratt remained in Canada in 
the employ of the same firm his father had 
been connected with three years. On the 
death of his father, he returned to Buffalo, 
when he entered the employ of G. & T. 
Weed in 1822, who conducted a hardware 
business. In 1826, a small interest was 
allowed him in the business, although he 
was then but nineteen years old. In 1828, 
a partnership was formed which included 
Samuel F. Pratt. In 1836, he bought out 
the entire Weed interest, and the firm be- 
came S. F. Pratt. In 1842, his brother, 
Pascal P. Pratt, who had formerly clerked 



for him, became a partner, and in 1846, Ed- 
ward P. Beals became a general partner in 
the firm of Pratt & Co., which has since re- 
mained unchanged. In 1852, Messrs. Pratt 
& Co., finding the space which they had 
occupied entirely inadequate to accommo- 
date their largely-increasing business, re- 
moved to the Terrace, where they had built 
commodious warehouses. The firm of 
Pratt & Seitchworth was established in 
1848. Few partnerships ever existed with 
so uniformly pleasant relations, says one 
of his partners. There seemed to be a well- 
spring of kindness and charity in his breast 
sufficient to sweeten all the cares of busi- 
ness life. He was inclined to look hopefully 
into the future ; any thing unpleasant and an- 
noying he put aside. At the age of twenty- 
eight, in the fall of 1835, he married Miss 
Mary Jane Strong. The marriage was the 
consequence of a long acquaintance and mu- 
tual attachment, and resulted in a well-order- 
ed home, their offspring being two daughters. 
From the time Samuel F. Pratt entered the 
Weed hardware store upon a salary of eight 
dollars a month, he made it a conscientious 
duty to contribute according to his means 
to all works of benevolence that came to 
his notice, and after joining the church 
(which he did at the age of eighteen), he 
gave liberally, not only to the church itself, 
but to all the various objects under its fos- 
tering care. He always recognized in a 
liberal degree the claims society advanced 
for its well-being and protection, and gave 
with no stinted hand. 

Samuel F. Pratt died on the 28th of 
April, 1872, after a very successful career, 
and was most deeply mourned, not only by 
his immediate family, but by all who knew 
him. His life was an eventful one. He 
was successful in all of his business pur- 









^-h/Ufi^ 



Red] 



P.IOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



553 



suits from a rare combination of industry 
and judgment, and at all times exhibiting a 
rectitude of character which never wavered 
from the proper direction. 

Redfield, Lewis H. — The subject of 
this sketch was born at Farmington, Ct., 
in 1793, and has therefore lived under the 
administrations of all our Presidents, and 
is nearly as aged as the government itself. 
The nineteenth century has been emi- 
nently an era of invention and progress. 
Mr. R. remembers when steamboats were 
a novelty and a fireside wonder, when rail- 
roads were unknown, and the electric 
telegraph was not dreamed of. The 
cotton gin, the mowing and threshing 
machines, are all the product of this cen- 
tury, and have been brought into use under 
the observation of Mr. R. In 1799, drop- 
ping into the tide of emigration then largely 
setting westward, the family moved to the 
" Genesee Country," where they began 
pioneer life in the primeval forests by clear- 
ing away the timber and making a farm. 
When fifteen, with no educational advantages 
except those obtained from reading and 
study at evening by the light of the winter's 
fire, he entered the office of the Ontario 
Repository, edited by James D. Bemis, at 
Canandaigua, as printer's apprentice. Here 
he was engaged six years, first as office boy, 
then compositor, pressman, and editor. Be- 
sides mastering his trade, he learned indus- 
try, frugality, and self-reliance — three lessons 
of inestimable value to the architect of for- 
tune. When Mr. R. was scarcely twenty- 
one, Mr. Bemis loaned him $1400 with which 
to start business, and on the 27th of Sep- 
tember, 1 8 14, the first number of the On- 
ondaga Register made its appearance un- 
der his proprietorship, and at once sprung 



into favor. During this period, the sub- 
ject of building the Erie Canal engaged 
public attention very largely, and the Reg- 
ister took a leading position in favor of 
that important State enterprise. In 1S28, 
Mr. R. concluded to move his home and 
business to Syracuse, that place having 
become the foremost business town of the 
county. In the following year, having pre- 
viously purchased Mr. Durnford's paper, 
the Gazette, he united the two under the 
name of the Onondaga Register and Syra- 
cuse Gazette. Here a greater measure of 
prosperity than before followed his labors. 
In 1832, owing to ill-health, he was forced 
to abandon the journalistic work to which 
he was strongly attached, and to which he 
had devoted the best years of his life. 
There were then, as now, strong men con- 
nected with the newspaper press of New 
York, and among his contemporaries were 
William Coleman, Colonel Stone, M. M. 
Noah, A. C. Flagg, Solomon Southwick, 
Thurlow Weed, Edwin Croswell, William 
H. Maynard, H. and E. Phinney, J. D. 
Bemis, A. G. Dauby, V. W. Smith, E. 
Mack, Orrin Follett, and S. H. Salisbury. 

After this period, he spent several years 
mostly in travel, seeking health, which, 
when obtained, he settled down again with 
just work enough to render life enjoyable, 
giving attention to his private affairs. Mr. 
R. is the oldest representative of the press 
in N. Y. State now living, he having entered 
the field sixty-three years ago. He is, 
therefore, entitled to the appellation of 
" Father of the Press of New York." In poli- 
tics he is a Democrat, and has served his 
party manfully through many a heated cam- 
paign ; but he never sought office or aspired 
to public distinction. In 1872, however, he 
was prevailed upon to accept the nomination 



554 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[RlC 



for Presidential Elector on the ticket of his 
party. He also held for many years the 
office of postmaster at Onondaga Valley, 
and likewise filled important offices in the 
village government of Syracuse, having 
been one year the President of its Board 
of Trustees. He was also one of the pro- 
jectors of the Bank of Salina, and always a 
director in that institution. He is now, 
and for many years has been, a director in 
the Salt Springs Bank, and is connected 
with several of the street railway compa- 
nies of Syracuse. Although Mr. R. long 
since passed the age allotted to man, he is 
still vigorous and active, attending to busi- 
ness affairs with as much regularity and 
strictness as ever, and, from all indications, 
is not unlikely to be able to do so for many 
years to come. While mindful of the obli- 
gation to devote what time may be necessary 
to the management of his pecuniary affairs, 
he finds frequent occasions for relief from 
business engagements, for travel and relax- 
ation, and no one relishes more keenly the 
companionship of nature. Generous and 
ever ready to aid the deserving, he is pass- 
ing the evening of his days in such activi- 
ties as tend to the promotion of physical 
and mental enjoyment, and prolong the 
years of a useful and well-spent life. 

Ricard, George, was born in the city 
of New York, December 25th, 1798, and 
was the son of John and Catharine Ricard. 
His father went to New Orleans from 
Bordeaux, France, in 1792. And, on ac- 
count of the proclamation issued by the 
Spanish government that all Frenchmen 
who would not swear allegiance to their 
government must leave the country in 
twenty-four hours, he took passage to Phila- 
delphia ; but before the ship had fairly got 



to sea, they were captured by a Spanish pri- 
vateer, plundered of every thing they pos- 
sessed, put aboard of a cartel, and taken to 
where the French fleet were lying off San 
Domingo, and there exchanged as prisoners 
of war. While aboard the fleet, Mr. R. 
offered his services, which were accepted, the 
fleet coming to New York for repairs and 
supplies in 1794. While lying in the har- 
bor, the British frigate Boston made her 
appearance, and sent a challenge to the 
officers of the French fleet, which was ac- 
cepted. The Ambuscade whipped the Bos- 
ton, but could not catch her, on account 
of the shattered condition of her masts and 
rigging. When the fleet were again ready 
for sea, Mr. R. decided to leave the service, 
and so remained in New York. 

The subject of this sketch received a lim- 
ited education only, attending the minor 
schools only till his thirteenth year, when 
he was engaged with the house of Fisher 
& Sethbridge, with whom he remained 
eighteen months. He then worked in a 
cotton factory for six months. In 1814, he 
became a substitute for one Joseph Conk- 
ling in the N. Y. Militia, and, after three 
months of active service, he volunteered for 
six months longer, and was stationed at 
Harlem Heights until the following March 
(peace having been declared in February). 
He then received his discharge, was for a 
few months after a clerk, and was then ap- 
prenticed to Christian Bergh, the ship- 
builder, for whom he worked three years. 
He continued at his trade till 1819, when 
he went to Ossabaw Island, Ga., and 
commenced cutting live-oak timber for the 
U. S. Government under Lieut. Thomas 
Newell, of the Navy. After six months, he 
returned to New York, and worked at his 
trade, and in the winter of 1820-1 he 



,j *«l 
/ 









SCII] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



559 



was employed in Savannah, Ga. In July, 
1820, he lost his father, who died from yel- 
low fever in Savannah. In the spring of 
1822, he worked in New York for a few 
months, when he shipped as carpenter on 
the Superior, Captain George R. Dowdal, 
engaged in the East India (Canton) trade. 
In this capacity he made two voyages, which 
occupied about two years. On his return 
to New York, with his hard-earned sav- 
ings he opened a small retail grocery store 
on the corner of Chrystie and Bayard 
streets ; here he remained seven years. In 
1827, he engaged in the cooperage business, 
and continued the grocery business until 
1832. In 1833, the failure of Hinton & 
Moore, white lead manufacturers, caused 
him considerable loss, they owing him for 
work done. In 1834, he was given a posi- 
tion in the Custom House as inspector of 
the customs ; he remained in the Govern- 
ment employ until 1841, part of which 
time he held the position of U. S. Boarding 
Officer. In 1842, he moved to Williamsburg, 
now part of Brooklyn, where he has ever 
since resided as a private citizen. In 1851, 
he was called upon for the use of his name 
in getting up a savings bank, which re- 
sulted in the formation of the Williamsburg 
Savings Bank in April of that year. He 
was elected its first vice-president, and held 
the position thirteen years, when, at the 
resignation of William Wall, the president, 
he was elected to fill the executive, a posi- 
tion he still holds. The building they now 
occupy was finished at an expense of $500,- 
000, and first entered by them May 31st, 
1875. Mr. Ricard is a man of great intelli- 
gence, his reputation for honor and in- 
tegrity is unimpeachable, and he is one of 
those men of whom it is safe to say, he 
never wronged a man out of a cent, and his 
L3 



friends know him as such when they are in 
trouble. He is loved, honored, and re- 
spected by a large circle of admiring friends 
and acquaintances. In 1864, he was Presi- 
dential Elector for A. Lincoln and A. John- 
son. 

He was joined in wedlock to Abigail 
Hendrickson Roberts, of New York City, 
April 20th, 1834, and she lived to brighten 
the comforts of his domestic happiness until 
January 27th, 1866. 

Schoellkopf, J. F., was born on the 
15th of November, 18 19, in a small town of 
5000 inhabitants, named Kirchheim U 
Teck, in the Kingdom of Wiirtemberg, Ger- 
many. His father was a tanner, and his 
grandfather also. After going to school 
till his fourteenth year, he was apprenticed 
to his father's trade, and after staying with 
him five years, he went to a mercantile 
house, and from there went to the United 
States aged twenty-two years, arriving here 
December 10th, 1841. 

After working for a living for about two 
years in currier shops and tanneries, he 
came to Buffalo in the spring of 1844, and 
started, with a capital of $800 — which he 
received from his father — a small leather 
store on Mohawk street. 

The same fall he bought a small tannery 
at White's Corner for $1200, payable in six 
years. In the spring of 1846, he started a 
sheep-skin tannery, and after successfully 
running those concerns, he started, in the 
spring of 1848, with some friends, a tannery 
in Milwaukee, Wis, under the name of 
G. Pfister & Co., where he remained 
partner until 1857. In 1851, he started a 
tannery in Chicago under the firm of C. T. 
Grey & Co., and went out of this last- 
named firm in 1856. Both were successful 



560 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Sea 



concerns, and at present rank with the 
largest in the West. In 1853, he bought a 
tannery at North Evans, N. Y., which 
he ran for about twenty years. In 1856, he 
built the North Buffalo Mills, and in 1857 
bought a small tannery in this city, which in 
time he enlarged, so that to-day it is one of 
the largest in Buffalo. In 1864, he purchased 
a site for a tannery in Sheffield township, 
Warren County, Pa., and built a tannery, 
which is to-day in full operation. The 
" Frontier Mills" he bought in 1871. Be- 
sides aforesaid establishments, he interested 
himself largely in the building up of the 
Buffalo, N. Y, and P. R.R., also in the 
Citizens' Gas Works of this city, of which 
he is at present president, besides being a 
director of the Buffalo, N. Y., and Philadel- 
phia R.R., " Citizens' Gas Co.," " German 
Insurance Co.," and of the German Bank, 
and senior partner -in the firm of J. F. 
Schoellkopf & Son, proprietors of the " City 
Tannery" at Buffalo, the " Sheffield Tan- 
nery" at Sheffield, • Pa., also of the 
firm Schoellkopf & Mathews, running the 
"Frontier," and "North Buffalo Flour 
Mills," located- at Black Rock, and has 
always been identified with various enter- 
prises for the good of the city of Buffalo. 

The fortune Mr. Schoellkopf has amassed 
has been made legitimately in the business 
enterprises he has organized and developed. 
His motto in life was to excel in all he un- 
dertook, and his success in life shows how 
well he has lived up to the maxim which he 
set before him as a guide. 



Seabury, James M .— The subject of 
this sketch was born at Hempstead, Queens 
County, N. Y., January 29th, 1810, and 
was the son of Samuel and Catharine 



Seabury. His great grandfather was the well- 
known Bishop Seabury, the first bishop of 
the Episcopal Church in this country. 

James M. Seabury received only a com- 
mon school education, part of which he re- 
ceived in his native town, and part 111 
Brooklyn, to which place he moved with 
his parents when nine years old. When 
fourteen he left school and moved to New 
York City, where he learned the trade of a 
baker, his term expiring when twenty-one. 
In 1821, he commenced the business for 
himself in Brooklyn, which he was engaged 
in for a period of twenty years, the result 
proving very successful during his business 
career. He was appointed a member of the 
Board of Education, and in 1853 was 
elected by the Democratic party to fill the 
important office of County Treasurer. In 
this capacity he served nine years, being 
elected three successive terms. During his 
first term as Treasurer, finding the position 
required his undivided attention to properly 
fulfil the duties imposed upon him, he dis- 
posed of his business, and though the posi- 
tion of Treasurer was offered him for the 
fourth term, he respectfully declined the 
nomination. How well he filled the posi- 
tion of Treasurer is best acknowledged from 
the fact that Kings County never had a 
better one. In 1866, or about two years after 
retiring from the County Treasurership, 
he was elected president of the Long Island 
Savings Bank, which position he has held 
ever since. Mr. James M. Seabury has 
been successful in all of his business pur- 
suits, from a rare combination of industry 
and judgment, and has gained the confidence 
and respect of the community by at all times 
exhibiting a rectitude of character which 
has never wavered from the proper direc- 
tion. 




-: W 




4*? ^ 




£2< 




B R I ) S NEW Y R K - 



Sel— Sha] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



567 



Selden, G.V., was born at Williamstown, 
Oswego County, N. Y., April 9th, 18 16, to 
which place his father, Asa B. Selden, emi- 
grated from Connecticut when fifteen years 
old. The subject of this sketch remained in 
his native town until 1851, receiving a very 
limited course of study. His first business 
experience was work on a farm, though 
since eighteen years of age he has been en- 
gaged in the lumber business. 

In 185 1, he moved to Rome, where he 
opened a grocery store in connection with 
his former business; this he continued for 
eight years. Since that time he has de- 
voted himself wholly to the lumbering and 
manufacturing business. In 1867, it be- 
came necessary to enlarge the business and 
include manufacturing, and, to consummate 
his object, he bought out the firm of H. S. 
Armstrong & Co. Continuing to grow, the 
business soon demanded larger premises, 
and during 1868-9 he built his present 
factory and mill, a fine three-story brick 
building fitted up with all the latest and 
best-improved machinery for facilitating 
and economizing labor, and the successful 
production of doors, sashes, blinds, mould- 
ings, etc. 

Besides his large business cares, Mr. Sel- 
den is a director in the Fort Stanwix Na- 
tional Bank, also a stockholder in the Mer- 
chants' Iron Mill, and the Rome and Clin- 
ton Railroad, and has probably done more 
to build up Rome than any other single in- 
dividual. He is well known to the citizens of 
Rome, and, in connection with his acknowl- 
edged business qualifications, he is highly 
esteemed for his moral attributes. He is 
now in the full vigor of manhood, and has 
long since accomplished what most men lay 
out as the work of a protracted life — wealth, 
honor, and the good-will of all men. 



Seymour, Horatio, LL.D., nephew 
of Senator Horatio, was born at Pompey, On - 
ondagaCo., N. Y., May 31st, 1810 ; removed 
in childhood to Utica; studied at Oxford 
and Geneva Academies, N. Y., and at Part- 
ridge's Military Institute, Middletown, 
Ct. ; was admitted to the bar at Utica, 
1832, but soon withdrew from its prac- 
tice to devote himself to the manage- 
ment of the large estate he inherited by the 
death of his father ; was a member of the 
staff of Governor Marcy, 1833-39 J was 
elected to the State Assembly as a Demo- 
crat, and three times re-elected, serving as 
speaker in 1845 ; was chosen Mayor of 
Utica, 1842; was an unsuccessful candidate 
for Governor, 1850 ; was Governor, 1S53- 
55 ; vetoed a prohibitory liquor law March, 
1854 ; was defeated in the election of that 
year by the prohibitionist candidate, My- 
ron H. Clark ; was again elected Governor 
as a War Democrat, 1862 ; aided in sup- 
pressing the riots in New York City, and 
forwarded efficient co-operation to the na- 
tional Government in the war of the 
Union ; was defeated in the election of 
1864, in which year he presided over the 
national Democratic Convention at Chicago, 
as he did again at New York, 1868, when 
he was himself nominated for the Presidency 
much against his will, and received eighty 
electoral votes. He resides at Deerfield, 
near Utica, and is president (1876) of the 
National Dairyman's Association and of the 
American Prison Association. 

Shapley, M. W., was born June, 1817, 
at Cazenovia, Madison County, N. Y. He 
lived there until eighteen years of age, re- 
ceiving the advantages of a good schooling. 
At the age of sixteen he taught school, and 
when eighteen he moved to Skaneateles, 



568 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[She 



N. Y., and learnt his trade with Hannum 
& Delano, with whom he stayed three 
years. He then returned to his home, 
where, with his father's aid, he immediately 
started in business, together with a partner 
(Mr. Backus). This continued about two 
years, when Mr. Backus retired, and Mr. 
Shapley's brother John became his part- 
ner. This continued nine years, during 
which time they were principally building 
machinery for woolen mills. In about 
1850, the firm was dissolved, Mr. M. W 
Shapley taking the foundry as his share, 
and his brother the machine shop. Six 
months after that time, the subject of this 
sketch sold out his entire business, and 
moved to Binghamton, where he has since 
resided. At first he took charge of the 
Empire Works, where he continued about 
eight months. After that he took charge 
of the Binghamton foundry and machine 
shop ; here he remained fifteen months, when 
he commenced business for himself, under 
the firm style of M. W. Shapley, doing gen- 
eral machine work until 1855, when he asso- 
ciated himself with A. Dunk, the firm style 
changing to M. W. Shapley & Co. This con- 
tinued until 1858, when Mr. P. A. Hopkins 
was admitted, and the firm became Shapley, 
Dunk & Co. It did not change again un- 
til 1863, when Mr. Dunk retired, and the 
firm changed to Shapley, Hopkins & Rob- 
bins. In 1867, Mr. Robbins retired, and 
the firm became Shapley & Hopkins. In 
1870, Mr. J. S. Wells bought Mr. Hopkins' 
interest ; the firm changed to Shapley & 
Wells, which still continues. They are now 
chiefly engaged in the manufacture of the 
Sh-apley Engine, which they sell all over 
the United States. They have a warehouse 
in Philadelphia, where they dispose of their 
goods. The works at Binghamton cover 



three quarters of an acre of ground, fitted up 
with all the modern improvements for expe- 
diting and facilitating work and labor. When 
busy they employ over one hundred hands. 

Mr. S. was married to Miss Jane E. Ber- 
throng, of Cazenovia, in January, 1843, by 
whom he has had three children, two of 
whom survive, both in the works with their 
father. 

He has given the whole of his time to 
the details of his business, never mixing 
with politics, and through a long and suc- 
cessful business career never had to suc- 
cumb to financial embarrassment. The 
fortune Mr. Shapely has amassed has been 
made legitimately in the business he has 
followed, and he has never strayed into 
other channels. His motto in life was to 
excel in all he undertook, and his success 
shows how well he has lived up to the old 
maxim set before him as a guide. 

Sherman, Augustus, one of the re- 
markable men of his day, was born in 
the town of Arlington, Vt, on the nth 
day of February, 1801. He was the fifth 
child, and third son, of Ware Darwin and 
Anna D. (Canfield) Sherman, the latter 
of Arlington, Vt., the former of Con- 
way, Mass. When he was five years of 
age, his parents removed, first to Kings- 
bury, N. Y., and the following spring to 
the then frontier settlement of Fairfield 
(now Luzerne), on the Hudson River. 
Mr. Sherman's opportunities for acquir- 
ing an education were exceedingly lim- 
ited, and only derived from an occasional 
winter attendance upon such schools as the 
wilderness districts then afforded. The 
father followed both lumbering and farming. 
To lighten his labor by sharing his toils, 
and to have his father relieved from debts 






'dyU/LiyU), 




l/l^i^Cri^U 



COWLEY BR0 5 NEWYORK 



She] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



571 



which had accumulated, was to his young 
son Augustus sufficient inducement for 
hard and exhaustive labor, for his father 
was to him the great and the good man. In 
December, 1823, the family sought a new 
home in Pennsylvania, where the father 
had purchased a farm, making the journey 
to Buffalo in a covered wagon, young Sher- 
man driving the horses. Having seen them 
thus far on their way, he returned to Lu- 
zerne, and now, with a right good will, went 
to work for himself. His first venture was 
the purchase of one fourth of a saw mill, 
whose running gear consisted of two saws. 
He also had the running of a small grist 
mill near by, besides drawing and rafting 
his lumber to market. At this laborious 
double task he laid the foundation for the 
princely fortune he has since acquired. On 
the 4th of March, 1824, he was married to 
Miss Nancy Weed, of Luzerne. Of this mar- 
riage there were nine children, six of whom 
are now living. Having disposed of his in- 
terest in Luzerne, he removed to the Feeder 
Dam, where he resumed the manufacture of 
lumber, with increased facilities, and on a 
larger scale. Two years later, he took up 
his residence in Glen's Falls, which has since 
been his home, and about this time made 
has first investment in timbered lands by 
the purchase of half of the sixteenth town- 
ship. His wife died June 12th, 1848. He 
was married again September 1st, 1856, to 
Charlotte H., daughter of the Rev. S. L. 
Conkling, of Martinsburg, Lewis County, 
N. Y. Of this marriage four children have 
been born, though none now survive. Stead- 
ily but surely his business increased, until 
it assumed vast proportions. He is foun- 
der and senior member of the old estab- 
lished firm of L. Thomson & Co., lum- 
ber dealers in Albany, N. Y., and still 



manages his extensive lumber business with 
its numerous branches and establishments. 
(Mr. Sherman is the oldest lumberman now 
doing business on the Hudson River, put 
the first loom in that river for catching logs, 
and was one of the first to send a boat out 
of the Feeder.) When Mr. Sherman moved 
to Glen's Falls, it had no bank, and credit 
is due him for first agitating the subject, 
when, in 1853, he was instrumental in orga- 
nizing the " Commercial," now First Na- 
tional Bank of Glens Falls, himself one of 
the directors, and now the only original 
director remaining in the board. In 1855, 
he was made vice-president of the bank, and 
president in 185S, still holding the office. 
His skilful and successful management of 
this bank is well known and appreciated, 
as in all his business affairs proceeding 
carefully and cautiously at first with his 
newly-adopted measures, whilst legal pro- 
ceedings against delinquent customers were 
rarely resorted to. The stock Of the bank 
soon rose from 70 to 100 per cent, and for 
a number of years has paid eight per cent 
semi-annually. He is the senior partner of 
the private banking house of Sherman & 
Johnson, proprietor of the Sherman Lime 
Works of Glen's Falls, president of the 
Glen's Falls Paper Mill Co., vice-president of 
the Glen's Falls Insurance Co., and was made 
first president of the Bald Mountain Lime 
Co. (which position he resigned), besides 
owning moneyed interests in other industries 
which have developed Glen's Falls into an 
important business centre. Never venturing 
into the uncertain depths of speculation, 
but conducting his business into legitimate 
channels, he did not commence grasping 
at once for immediate returns, but allowed it 
to fully develop and secure a foundation 
strong enough to guarantee permanent re- 



572 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[She 



suits. Neither does lie owe his fortune to 
having been born under the auspicious star, 
for he started at the bottom round, with- 
out wealth or influence, but, possessed of 
rare good judgment and strong common 
sense, he has by degrees crept forward 
through a checkered life until he has at- 
tained a fortune greater than that of any 
other person in the county, and owes his 
present position to his indomitable perse- 
verance. Though he is seventy-six years 
old, he is still vigorous and active, giving his 
personal attention to his business affairs, 
while the purity of his character and the 
frankness of his disposition have endeared 
him to a large circle of friends. 

Sherman, George. — The subject of 
this sketch was born October, 22d, 1801, in 
Rutland County, Vt. When one and a 
half years old, he, in company with his 
parents, moved to Moriah, Essex County, 
N. Y. During his early life he received 
a limited education, and when only seven 
years old commenced to work on a farm 
in the woods, which he continued until 
thirty-six years of age, when he became the 
possessor of a farm himself, which he sold 
four years later. About 1846, he, in com- 
pany with John A. Lee and E. Hall, bought 
two iron ore beds of David E. Sanford, and 
commenced digging ore and disposing of it 
to the furnaces. They then exhumed about 
1000 tons annually. He has ever since 
been in this business, and has increased 
their production to so great an extent that 
the firms he has been a member of have pro- 
duced as much as 150,000 tons of iron ore 
in one year. In 1873, the Cedar Point Fur- 
nace, one of the finest and best extant, was 
built, and Mr. Sherman is a large stock- 
holder and director, besides being interested 



in other furnaces, and for many years he 
has been a director in the First National 
Bank of Port Henry. In 1822, Mr. Sher- 
man was married to Miss Theda Tarbell, 
of Chester, Vt. The issue of this mar- 
riage was two sons, one of whom (Kinsly 
Sherman) died January 28th, 1873. The 
other, G. R., is now president of the First 
National Bank of Port Henry, president of 
the Lake Champlain and Moriah R. R., and 
director in the Furnace Co. Mr. George 
Sherman lived at Moriah until two years ago, 
when he virtually retired from active busi- 
ness life, and, together with his wife, moved 
to Saratoga Springs. In 1870, he endowed 
the " Sherman Academy" at Moriah with 
$30,000, besides fitting the building for 
school purposes, and giving them new ad- 
ditions of land. Thus he has liberally dis- 
pensed his charities while living, and thou- 
sands of young hearts who are and will be 
educated by his bounty, breathe his name 
with gratitude. 

Sherman, Kinsly, was born at Moriah, 
Essex County, N. Y., June 19th, 1825, and 
was the eldest son of George Sherman, also 
of Essex County. In early life, the subject of 
this sketch received a common-school educa- 
tion, and at the age of sixteen was clerk in a 
general store in his native town, where he 
continued until 1844. At this time, his father 
became identified with the iron industry, and 
Kinsly Sherman took a similar position with 
him, that of managing the general store at- 
tached to the iron ore mines. Here he re- 
mained until 1852, when, seized with the 
California excitement, he left for San Fran- 
cisco to seek his fortune in the gold-fields, 
only remaining about seven months, when he 
returned to his native place. 

In 1853, he went into Wisconsin and pur- 








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/ 



Shu] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



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chased considerable farming lands, and in the 
fall of the same year, after spending some lit- 
tle time at home, he moved to Cleveland, 
Ohio, and became resident agent of With- 
erbee, Sherman & Co. Soon after, he com- 
menced operating for himself, buying his ores 
mostly from Witherbee, Sherman & Co. In 
this business he remained until his death, 
which occurred January 28th, 1873. He 
was joined in wedlock during 1862 to Miss 
Sarah J. Holcomb, who died less than a 
month before him. 

In early life, the subject of this sketch de- 
veloped remarkable talent for business pur- 
suits, which was followed by untiring energy 
and undoubted ability, which enabled him in 
subsequent years to plan and execute large 
and important business operations. He was 
a man of the most delicate tenderness of 
feeling, and, in his intercourse with others, 
was gentle and unassuming. His death 
caused a deep gloom to be spread among all 
who knew him. 

Shumway, Horatio, was born at Bel- 
chertown, Mass., in 1788. Descended from 
Huguenot and Puritan ancestry, he inherited 
the distinguishing virtues of both peoples. 
Belonging to a family of twelve children, he 
was noted, even in childhood, for truthful- 
ness and reliability, qualities which strength- 
ened with his youth, and became prominent 
characteristics of his manhood. 

His thoughtful disposition inclined him to 
a student life, and his own persevering efforts 
enabled him to prepare himself for admission 
to college. After his graduation at Middle- 
bury, he entered the office of the Hon. Luther 
Bradish, in New York City. Becoming, at 
Mr. Bradish's urgent request, a member of 
his family, he was ever regarded by him with 
true interest and affection. 



In 1 81 7, he commenced the practice of his 
profession in Watertown, and was soon 
appointed District- Attorney for Jefferson 
County, the duties of which office he fulfilled 
with fidelity and honor. 

In the year 1824, the attention of Mr. 
Shumway was drawn to Buffalo, and with 
many others he established himself in that 
city when it was just commencing that devel- 
opment of its natural advantages which re- 
sulted in the creation of a great city during 
his lifetime. At that time, Buffalo was but a 
village of twenty-five hundred inhabitants, 
and though the ranks of its legal profession 
were adequately filled in number, by his 
studious habits, integrity of action, and con- 
tinuous industry, Mr. Shumway soon acquired 
a reputation and practice which placed him 
among the more eminent of the Buffalo bar — 
even then taking a decided rank for ability 
with older and larger towns of Western 
New York. 

In the year 1847, he was elected one of the 
members of the State Legislature, in which he 
bore a distinguished part in introducing and 
advocating the rights of married women in 
the protection and possession of their prop- 
erty. 

One of the most important acts of Mr. Shum- 
way's professional life was the settlement of the 
estate of the late Jabez Goodell, a well-known 
citizen of Buffalo, who bequeathed to various 
benevolent and religious societies property 
estimated at $200,000. This was mostly in 
real estate in the city and county, and some- 
what embarrassed by debts ; but so skilfully 
was it managed that the sum of $400,000^ 
or nearly double the amount bequeathed, was 
realized and paid to the various beneficiaries 
of Mr. Goodell. Owing to his careful atten- 
tion to details, his watchful interest and 
scrupulous honor, the American Bible Society 



573 



lUOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[SMI 



and the Board of Foreign Missions, as resid- 
uary legatees, were placed in possession of a 
sum much larger than they could have pos- 
sibly anticipated. These societies marked 
their grateful appreciation of his services by 
presenting him the highest testimonials in 
their power to bestow. It is worth while to 
mention here, that not a cent of the assets 
did he appropriate to his own use during the 
settlement of the estate, voluntarily accepting 
at its close a small sum, totally inadequate to 
the arduous labor of years. 

Through the influence of Mr. Shumway, 
the large donation of land was secured from 
Mr. Goodell, so essential to the establishment 
of the female academy, whose name, " Good- 
ell Hall," perpetuates his memory. He was 
deeply interested in the prosperity of that in- 
stitution, was the first President of the Board 
of Trustees, and its life-long friend. 

In 1861, Mr. Shumway retired from the 
active duties of his profession, with the con- 
sciousness that every duty had been dis- 
charged faithfully and well. 

Ten years later, at the age of eighty-three, 
this long career of usefulness and honor 
closed, amid the sincere regrets of his fellow- 
citizens, leaving no enemy to reproach an act 
of his life. In his own family, Mr. Shumway 
was the true gentleman; all his actions indi- 
cated kindness and refinement. In him the 
profession lost an able member, society an 
example of integrity and honor, the world a 
noble living example of a proper life. 

{See portrait page 365.) 

Smith, Elijah F., was born in Groton, 
New London County, Connecticut, Decem- 
ber 13th, 1792. He left his home and re- 
moved to Petersburg, Virginia, where he was 
engaged in mercantile pursuits until the year 
1825, when he was married and removed to 



Rochester, N. Y. Here he was engaged in 
the wholesale grocery business until about 
i860, doing a very heavy and successful busi- 
ness. He has been trustee of the Rochester 
Savings Bank since 1840, and president of 
said bank the greater part of the time. Mr. 
Smith was twice elected mayor of the city of 
Rochester, in the years 1839 and 1840. 

Mr. Smith was not born to affluence, but 
began from a humble commencement, and 
owes alone to his efforts and industry his 
present position and fortune. What he has 
done can be done again if the same method 
be used for its accomplishment. Any young 
man who will copy his perseverance, econo- 
my, and industry, and like him be sedulous in 
preserving his reputation and credit, must at- 
tain affluence and reach a reputable position. 
Who properly sows in spring, must reap a 
harvest ; and he who in youth commences life 
with the practice of temperance, industry, and 
economy, must gather bountifully of the fruit 
they naturally produce. 

Smith, H. P.— The biography of such 
a man as H. P. Smith is fraught not only 
with readable interest, but has a useful moral 
effect upon the present time and posterity. 
It teaches youth what industry and moral 
worth can achieve, and that they can hope 
for all things if they make honor their guide 
and are prompted by honorable emulation. 

The subject of this memoir was born April 
24th, 181 1, in Warren County, N. Y., and 
he emigrated to Western New York with his 
father, Isaac Smith, when only eight years 
old. His first commencement in life was 
teaching school ; afterward he became a clerk 
in a mercantile store at Niagara Falls ; this 
he continued for some time, when he moved 
to Tonawanda, and clerked in the grocery 
store of Uriah Driggs. In 1833, in company 







t 










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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



585 



with his brother Daniel, he commenced for 
himself in the general store and stave busi- 
ness. Though not being entirely satisfied, he 
moved to Chippewa, Canada, in 1836, and 
commenced merchandising. Money in those 
days was a very scarce commodity, so he 
took in exchange for his wares timber, which 
in return he brought to Tonawanda to sell 
and pay for his goods. This he continued till 
1840, when he moved to Lockporf, N. Y., 
and commenced the lumber business with his 
brother Philo ; this partnership lasted till 
1844, when he gave his entire business inter- 
ests to his brother and moved to Township of 
Walsingham, Canada. With his former good 
credit in Buffalo, he had no trouble to obtain 
a stock of goods, which he took to his newly- 
adopted home in Canada, and commenced 
exchanging them for saw-logs. This proved 
eminently successful, and he took in a partner 
and commenced operations on a large scale. 
They soon became the possessors of a fine lot of 
pine saw-logs, which were stored away in the 
creek, and their next move was to transport 
them to market. The fertile brain of H. P. 
Smith conceived a plan to make a large raft 
and tow them across the lake. (This was the 
first experiment ever made in this direction, 
and his plan of making the first one is the same 
now in use on all the lakes.) After six years 
spent this way in Canada, he moved to Ton- 
awanda, continuing as heretofore to ship logs, 
which he sold to the mills at Tonawanda. 
In the winter of 1855-6, he went up Sable 
River on Lake Huron, and put up two large 
rafts of black-walnut and oak, which he 
towed to Buffalo. These were the first rafts 
ever towed on that lake. In 1861, he com- 
menced towing logs on Saginaw Bay, in com- 
pany with Luther Westover, of Bay City, 
Mich., and continued this business till his 
death, which occurred July 14th, 1874. 
14 



To Mr. Smith more than any other man 
belongs the honor of inaugurating a business 
which led to the development of the vast lum- 
ber interests of Tonawanda, by supplying 
them with timber, and which was a very haz- 
ardous and risky business. Besides having the 
weighty cares of a wide-spread business, he 
was vice-president of the Niagara County 
National Bank of Lockport, and a stock- 
holder from its organization; a director in the 
National Exchange Bank of Lockport. In 
1860-61, he represented the First district of 
Niagara County in the State Assembly ; and 
though this position was offered him a second 
time, he declined, preferring to devote all his 
valuable time to business, not caring for polit- 
ical honors. He also turned his attention to 
agricultural pursuits, which proved, as did his 
business, successful. He was married to Miss 
Christianna Long, daughter of Benjamin 
Long, of Marietta, Pa., by which marriage 
he had nine children, six of whom, with his 
wife, survive him; his business interest still 
being continued by three of his sons. 

The life of H. P. Smith was an eventful 
one. He always directed his conduct by 
principles based on the soundest morality. 
There was not a word of reproach against his 
character, nothing to sully his fair name, 
nothing to dull the lustre of his life, still left 
shining as a bright example to be followed. 

Mr. Smith liberally dispensed his charities, 
and saw and enjoyed the fruits of them while 
living. His good works live after him ; and 
now the sands of life are all spent and he has 
been gathered into his " narrow house," he 
will be mourned as a public benefactor, and 
his name will not be forgotten. 

Smith, Moses, the subject of this sketch, 
was born August 12th, 1824, at Springfield, 
then Essex, now Union County, New Jersey, 



586 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Spa 



and came from the old settled stock of that 
State. His father, Samuel C. Smith, his grand- 
father, great grandfather, and great great 
grandfather on his father's side, were all born 
and lived at the same place. He attended 
the schools of his native town, after which he 
clerked in the village of his birth for two 
years, when he emigrated to Oswego with his 
uncle, N. Robins, and was engaged clerking 
in the dry goods and forwarding business 
for eleven years. In 1852, he moved to New 
York City, where he remained one year, dur- 
ing which time he clerked in a large produce 
house. In 1853, he moved to Buffalo, and 
commenced the lumber business for himself, 
and in this business he continued for twenty 
years, when, having a desire to start in the 
more dignified calling of banker, he in July, 
1874, opened a private banking house at 179 
Main Street, and in this business he still con- 
tinues, which proves successful under his man- 
agement. 

In February, 1854, Mr. Smith was joined 
in wedlock to Miss Esther M. Davis of Buf- 
falo. 

Amid all the political agitation this coun- 
try has passed through, Mr. Smith has never 
been allured from his business to take part in 
factional disputes, but has devoted himself 
most unremittingly to business, its operations 
requiring all his time and watchful atten- 
tion. He is still comparatively young, and 
in the prime of physical vigor and matured 
experience. 

Spaulding, Hon. Elbridge Gerry, 

was born Feb. 24th, 1809, at Summer 
Hill, Cayuga County, N. Y., being fifth 
son of Edward Spaulding and Mehitable 
Goodrich. He came to Buffalo in 1834 and 
has resided in this city ever since. He has 
served the people ably and satisfactorily in 



many positions of trust and responsibility. 
He has been Mayor of Buffalo, Treasurer of 
the State of New York, Member of the 
Canal Board, and Member of Congress. He 
filled the latter position six years, four of 
which he was a member of the Committee 
on Ways and Means, the most important and 
responsible committee in the House, on 
which he rendered valuable service to the 
entire country. During the early months of 
the war, when the greatest need of the na- 
tion, next to men, was money, Mr. Spauld- 
ing's practical knowledge of financial mat- 
ters was brought into requisition. In framing 
the legal-tender law he achieved a world- 
wide reputation as a financier and legislator. 
The following particulars of his active life 
are taken from the " Spalding Memorial : A 
Genealogical History of Edward Spalding 
of Massachusetts Bay and his descendants, 
by Samuel J. Spalding," printed at Boston 
in 1872 : 

" He is a descendant in the seventh gener- 
ation from Edward Spaulding, who emigrated 
from Lincolnshire, England, and settled in 
Massachusetts about the year 1630. This 
early pioneer had five sons, and the Spauld- 
ing family in this country has increased 
greatly in numbers during the last two hun- 
dred and forty years. His father served four 
years in the war for American Independence, 
and his grandfather, Capt. Levi Spaulding, 
was in the memorable battle of Bunker Hill, 
with eight others of the same family. He 
has erected a granite monument (cenotaph) 
in Forest Lawn Cemetery, at Buffalo, in 
filial regard to their memory. The dedica- 
tion ceremony was largely attended on the 
17th of June, 1875, which was the centennial 
anniversary of that great battle. Among other 
inscriptions on the monument is the follow- 
ing : — " One hundred years of Progress," " In 




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Spa] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



589 



Memory of the New England Fathers, who 
fought for Civil and Religious Liberty, Amer- 
ican Independence, resulting in National 
Union." 

When about twenty years of age, he com- 
menced the study of law in the office of 
Fitch & Dibble, at Batavia, Genesee Coun- 
ty, N. Y. He taught school in the winter 
and other portions of the year, and also acted 
as recording clerk in the County Clerk's office, 
during the first two years of his law studies, 
in order to pay his board and other ex- 
penses. In 1832, he entered the law office 
of Hon. Harvey Putnam, at Attica, in the 
same county, where he pursued his law stud- 
ies until admitted to practise in the Court of 
Common Pleas of Genesee County. 

In 1834, he removed to Buffalo, and con- 
tinued the study and practice of the law in 
the office of Potter & Babcock. At the May 
term of the Supreme Court in 1836, he was 
admitted to practise law as an Attorney of 
the Supreme Court of the State of New York, 
and as a solicitor in the Court of Chancery ; 
and in 1839, as a counsellor of the Supreme 
Court, and in the Court of Chancery. After 
his admission to practise as an attorney in the 
Supreme Court, he entered into partnership, 
first with George R. Babcock, and afterward 
with Heman B. Potter, and continued to 
practise law until 1844, when the partnership 
was dissolved. He afterward received into 
partnership the Hon. John Ganson, with 
whom he continued until 1848. From the 
time he entered the profession of the law un- 
til he retired from it, he was laborious and un- 
remitting in his exertions, and enjoyed an 
extensive and lucrative practice. 

In 1836, he was appointed City Clerk of 
Buffalo, and in 1841, was elected Alderman, 
and served as Chairman of the Finance Com- 
mittee. In 1847, ne was elected Mayor of 



Buffalo, and during his term many important 
measures were inaugurated. Among these, 
he took a very active part in the adoption by 
the State of the Erie and Ohio basins for en- 
larging the facilities of lake and canal com- 
merce at Buffalo; the organization of the 
Buffalo Gas Light Company for lighting the 
city ; and the adoption of an extensive sys- 
tem of sewerage. In 1848, he served one term 
as a member of the New York Legislature, 
and was Chairman of the Canal Committee. 
In the fall of the same year, he was elected 
a member of the Thirty-first Congress, which 
assembled in December, 1849. In the long 
contest for the Speaker, he voted on every 
balloting for Robert C. Winthrop, but owing 
to some defection among the Whig members, 
Howell Cobb was finally elected. He was 
placed on the Committee on Foreign Rela- 
tions. He opposed the extension of slavery 
on all occasions; supported the policy of 
General Taylor for admitting California and 
New Mexico as free States, and opposed the 
Fugitive Slave Law and the compromise 
measures adopted at the very long session in 
1850, and which received the approval of Mr. 
Fillmore after the death of General Taylor. 

In 1853, he was elected Treasurer of the 
State of New York, and ex-officio a member 
of the Canal Board, serving two years from 
January 1st, 1854. During this term, he per- 
formed important service as a member of the 
Canal Board, in adopting the plans and con- 
tracting for the work of enlarging the Erie 
and Oswego Canals, involving an expenditure 
of $9,000,000, which was borrowed on the 
credit of the State of New York. 

He opposed the repeal of the Missouri com- 
promise in 1854; took an active part in or- 
ganizing the Republican party; was for 
several years a member of the State Central 
Committee; and in i860 he was an active 



590 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[STA 



member of the Congressional Executive Com- 
mittee in conducting the political campaign 
which resulted in the election of Abraham 
Lincoln for President. 

In 1858, he was elected to the Thirty-sixth 
Congress, and in i860 re-elected to the Thirty- 
seventh Congress, and served four years on 
the important Committee on Ways and 
Means. He was one of the most active mem- 
bers of this committee during a most eventful 
period in the history of the country. As 
Chairman of the Sub-Committee of Ways and 
Means, he drafted the National Currency 
Bank Bill, and originated the Legal Tender 
Act for the issue of treasury fundable notes to 
circulate as money, which he introduced in 
the House of Representatives, December 
30th, 1 86 1. He advocated it as a war meas- 
ure, and opened the debate upon it in an ex- 
haustive speech, showing the imperative ne- 
cessity of the measure to sustain the army 
and navy. 

This speech was the first official exposition 
of the necessity of the legal tender notes as 
a war measure, the constitutionality of that 
measure, and a full statement of the grounds 
on which it should be supported, in order to 
provide the means for carrying on the war. 
It received very general comment from the 
press, as well as from individuals. The op- 
ponents of the measure criticised it in severe 
terms, but the positions he took in the speech, 
legally and otherwise, have never been suc- 
cessfully controverted, and it stands to-day as 
one of the best arguments in favor of legal 
tender fundable notes, as a war measure, that 
has ever been presented. It had great influ- 
ence in carrying the bill through Congress. 
Nearly all the most important loan laws for 
carrying on the war originated under the su- 
pervision of the Sub-Committee of Ways and 
Means, of which he was chairman. In a let- 



ter to him, dated Aug. 3d, 1869, Hon. 
Charles Sumner says : " In all our early finan- 
cial trials, while the war was most menacing; 
you held a position of great trust, giving you 
opportunity and knowledge. The first you 
used at the time most patriotically, and the 
second you use now (in preparing a financial 
history of the war) for the instruction of the 
country." The history alluded to by Mr. 
Sumner, as having been prepared by Mr. 
Spaulding, was published at Buffalo, N. Y., 
1869, entitled, " History of the Legal Tender 
Paper Money issued during the Great Re- 
bellion." 

Mr. Spaulding has been engaged in bank- 
ing since 1852. He organized the Farmers 
and Mechanics' National Bank of Buffalo in 
1864, and he owns more than three fourths 
of its stock, and is its President. By indus- 
try, frugality, and economy, he has accumu- 
lated a handsome fortune. 

Starbuck, Senator James F., was 

born in Cayuga County. In his early infancy 
his parents removed to Niagara County, where 
he continued to reside till after he was twenty- 
one years of age. He is of English and New 
England parentage, being one of the de- 
scendants of the ancient family of that name, 
who at an early day located on Nantucket 
Island, and were for many years extensively 
engaged in the whale fishery. During his 
minority, when not in school, he was occupied 
in assisting in the cultivation of his father's 
farm, in Niagara County. He was elected to 
the Senate in November, 1875, t0 represent 
the Eighteenth district, composed of the 
counties of Jefferson and Lewis. He entered 
upon the performance of his duties as Sena- 
tor in January, 1876, that being his first ex- 
perience in any legislative body. 

After he attained his majority, he soon 



1 




1 




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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



593 



determined to abandon agricultural pursuits 
and to acquire and practise the legal profes- 
sion; and, persevering in this purpose, he 
earned and paid the expenses of his educa- 
tion, and was admitted to the bar of his State 
in 1844. 

In 1846, he was elected to the office of 
Secretary of the Convention which framed 
our present Constitution. The duties of this 
office brought him into intimate relations 
with such men as Governor Wright, Comp- 
troller Flagg, Robert H. Morris, Michael 
Hoffman, Samuel Nelson, William Cassidy, 
Edwin Croswell, Samuel J. Tilden, Charles 
O'Conor, and, in fact, with many of the 
public men in all parts of the State. 

This experience proved of great service. 
Since then he has kept up an extensive ac- 
quaintance with the public men of the 
country ; and has long been regarded as one 
of the closest observers of public events, and 
as a specially sagacious politician in estimat- 
ing political forces and calculating probable 
results. 

In the political struggle of 1848, he acted 
with that large and influential organization 
ot Democrats who then formally interposed 
their protest against the making of further 
concessions to what was then known as the 
" slave power." His position on this and 
kindred questions brought him into intimate 
and confidential relations with the friends of 
Governor Wright, and he uniformly acted 
with them on most political questions up to 
and including the presidential election of 
i860. In that campaign he supported 
Stephen A. Douglas for President, and was 
himself the Democratic candidate for Con- 
gress in his district, and, like all other Demo- 
cratic candidates in that locality, he failed to 
be elected. 

In all his connection with public affairs, 



Mr. Starbuck has never allowed himself to 
be diverted from the duties of his profession. 
For several years after 1850, he held the 
office of public prosecutor for his county, 
and performed its duties in such a manner as 
prominently to call the public attention to his 
professional ability, and especially to his 
powers as an advocate. From that time he 
has occupied a conspicuous place in the 
front rank of his profession, and has probably 
tried more cases in the Supreme and Circuit 
Courts in his county, than any other man 
living. In these courts he was always pres- 
ent, actively engaged in the performance of 
his duties, and, when elected to the Senate, he 
had attended and tried causes at every Cir- 
cuit Court held in his county for more than 
twenty years. 

No one who has observed Mr. Starbuck's 
action in his present office can fail to be im- 
pressed with the apparent extent of his edu- 
cation in the political doctrines of Jefferson 
and Madison, and with his fidelity on all 
occasions to those principles. 

Any attempted invasion of the reserved 
rights of the States, any departure from the 
principle of home rule, any extravagance in 
the public expense, any interference with the 
freedom of religion or of the press, any inva- 
sion of the right of election by the people, 
any of these or kindred measures are always 
sure to encounter in Senator Starbuck a 
ready and inflexible adversary. His views 
were well epitomized in one of his speeches 
in the Senate, from which we make a brief 
extract : 

" One hundred years ago, our fathers found 
themselves the victims of that same kind of in- 
termeddling legislation, interference with pri- 
vate rights, and denial of the principle of home 
rule, to which I have averted. They had 
seen the long arm of power stretch out from 



594 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[STA 



governmental centres and interfere with all the 
domestic and private affairs of the people. 
In their own case, they had seen it reach 
three thousand miles, across the ocean, levy 
enormous taxes, and even exact that stamp 
duties should be paid in order to validate any 
contract or agreement. They wisely deter- 
mined that all that kind of abuse should 
cease — and that self-government and home 
rule should be established. To that end 
they ordained the American system of gov- 
ernment, founding it upon the wise maxim 
that ' That government is best which governs 
least.' They therefore organized government 
upon the principle of the greatest possible 
power in the individual citizen and in his 
local government, and the least possible 
authority in the general government ; and 
they took great care that the powers dele- 
gated to that government should be clearly 
defined and strictly limited, and that all 
powers not so expressly delegated should be 
' reserved to the States respectively, or to the 
people.' " 

Early in the session of 1876, Mr. Starbuck 
made his first speech in the Senate. It was 
on the bill which became widely known as 
The "Gray Nun" bill. Senator Starbuck 
regarded the measure as a deliberate attempt 
to create an excitement against one of the 
religious organizations of the country, and to 
revive and intensify sectarian hate and re- 
ligious intolerance. It was based upon the 
idea of supposed danger to our institutions, 
and especially to our school system, to arise 
from the action of a few charitable Catholic 
women, who were known as " Gray Nuns." 
His speech was regarded at the time as a 
masterly exercise of the power of satire and 
ridicule, combined with good sense and 
strong argument. It commanded the closest 
attention of all who heard it, and had a 



wider publication and more extensive read- 
ing than any speech delivered in the Senate 
for many years. 

The speech was also productive of great 
good. It proved, for the time being, the 
death-blow to that spirit of religious intol- 
erance and sectarian hate which it was in- 
tended to rebuke ; and since then, the words 
" Gray Nuns" have proved a sufficient an- 
swer to any and all attempts to revive any 
undue excitement on the subject of sectarian 
appropriations for educational purposes, or 
the exhibition of religious intolerance in 
political affairs. From that time its author, 
by universal consent, assumed that position 
in the Senate which he has since maintained, 
and which entitles him to be regarded as one 
of the ablest members of that body. 

Mr. Starbuck is always ready and able in 
debate, and has taken a prominent part in 
the discussion of nearly all the important 
questions that have come before the Senate. 
He is never tedious or prolix — generally 
brief — always pointed and clear ; and high 
evidence of his ability as a debater is found 
in the fact that he is always listened to with 
marked attention. 

In the session of 1877 he was conspicu- 
ous in the debates on the numerous bills 
affecting the local government of the city of 
New York. Finding an adverse political 
majority determined to force upon the people 
of that city offensive measures, without their 
consent, and against their protest, he inter- 
posed a determined opposition, condemning 
them as invasions of the right of home rule 
and local self-government. He also made 
strenuous opposition to that feature of the 
scheme for the government of cities, which 
sought to establish a board of finance founded 
on a property qualification ; and he was 
chiefly instrumental in defeating the propo- 



StaJ 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



595 



sition to take the appointment of presidential 
electors from the State, and confer it upon 
the several congressional districts. 

Senator Starbuck has always believed that 
the great error in American politics was com- 
mitted in 1848, and in the years following, 
up to i860. In those years, the advice of 
Governor Wright's political friends was re- 
jected, and the majority of the Democratic 
party undertook the experiment of reversing 
the teachings of Jefferson on the subject of 
negro slavery and its relations to the Consti- 
tution. Then, for the first time, the doctrine 
was boldly avowed that slavery must be ac- 
cepted, not as a temporary evil, but as a pos- 
itive good, and that it ought to be cherished, 
encouraged, and extended, by the active 
support and favor of the general gov- 
ernment. This error was seized upon by 
the fanatical men of the Northern States as 
the foundation on which to build up that 
great party, bounded on the South by Mason 
and Dixon's line, whose central idea was in- 
tolerance and hate; and to the existence of 
which the country traces, as Mr. Starbuck 
believes, its enormous public debt, its op- 
pressive taxation, its depreciated paper cur- 
rency, the destruction of its commerce, the 
creation of a multitude of banking corpora- 
tions of more than doubtful constitutionality, 
and most of the other disastrous results of the 
departure from the wise principles on which 
our government was founded. Believing 
that such a party must necessarily be de- 
structive to the best interests of the people, 
and that it was conceived in hostility to the 
warnings of Washington against the spirit of 
disunion, and against the formation of sec- 
tional parties, it encountered his determined 
opposition. Though zealously opposed to 
the unwarrantable aggressions of the slave 
power, and believing firmly in the principles 



of Jefferson, Benton, and Wright, on the 
whole question of the relations of slavery to 
the government, he denied the right to vio- 
late the Constitution to make war upon any 
of the rights secured by that instrument to 
any of our people, and always maintained 
that persistence in such unwise action was 
likely, as Washington warned us, to result in 
a bloody war between the Northern and 
Southern portions of the country. 

The result of the election of i860 subjected 
these views to the crucial test of experience. 
The party of the North succeeded in electing 
their candidate for the presidency — he was 
inaugurated in March, 1861 — and, in April 
following, the anticipated war was begun by 
the firing upon Fort Sumter. This was re- 
garded by Mr. Starbuck, in common with 
the great mass of right-thinking Democrats, as 
an act, not only of extreme folly, but as a 
great crime ; they insisting that the commis- 
sion of one error or one crime ought never to 
be pleaded as the justification for another. 
They insisted that the wrong done by sec- 
tional organization and action should be cor- 
rected by peaceful methods, and that the 
unity of our government must be preserved 
and perpetuated. 

The crisis was one well calculated to test 
a man's fidelity to principle. As a candidate 
for Congress at the then late election, Mr. 
Starbuck had fully discussed the questions at 
issue — had pointed out the danger of the sit- 
uation, and had earnestly appealed to the 
people to stay the tide of sectional agitation 
which he believed so likely, if persevered in, 
to culminate in armed collision. The appeal 
had been contemptuously disregarded, and 
now the predicted results were upon us in all 
their fearful proportions. This calamity had 
been predicted — the people had been warned 
against it — the adversary had been deaf to 



5 9 6 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[STE 



the warning — the crisis had been precipitated, 
and the new administration stood powerless 
before the storm they had evoked, and, trem- 
bling for their own safety, they appealed to 
their opponents to save them. To such an 
appeal, every thing short of patriotism and the 
most inflexible fidelity to principle might be 
expected to turn a deaf ear. The ready an- 
swer would be, " We told you so, you disre- 
garded our warning, now take care of your- 
selves." Had such been the answer, the 
Union of these States would now be a thing 
of the past, and the party then invoking aid 
would have been swept out of existence by 
the sword. Unfortunately, such was the an- 
swer of a few of our people, and, from this 
misguided and mistaken action of these few 
persons, more evil has befallen the Demo- 
cratic party and the country, as he believes, 
than tliey will ever be able to repair. 

Senator Starbuck was not one of these. 
Strong as was the temptation to leave his 
political adversaries to the fate they had 
invited, he saw that to do so was to con- 
sent to the dismemberment of the country, 
and to the erection of two rival and antago- 
nistic governments in our present territorial 
jurisdiction, to be in perpetual hostility to each 
other. To this he would never assent. Like 
the great body of right-thinking Democrats, he 
recognized the legality of Mr. Lincoln's elec- 
tion, and recognized him as the only consti- 
tutional head of the government. 

Steele, Oliver G. — There are some men 
whose characters are so nobly planned by 
nature, and so plentifully adorned with 
those virtues which ennoble humanity, that 
it is a duty and a pleasure to write their 
biographies and hand them down to pos- 
terity for its benefit and instruction. The 
subject of this sketch was born in New 



Haven, Ct., December 16th, 1805, and is 
the son of Oliver and Sarah Steele. One 
of the forefathers of Mr. Steele was the 
first secretary of the colony. 

Mr. Steele received only a common- 
school education, and though his attendance 
was very regular, he left at the age of twelve, 
at which time he was sent to New York as 
a message boy in a store of a relative, where 
he remained over two years, when he re- 
turned home. At the age of fifteen he was 
apprenticed to the book-binding trade, which 
he finished at Norwalk, Ct. 

Early in the spring of 1827, or when a lit- 
tle over twenty one years of age, he went to 
New York in search of employment. Find- 
ing times very dull, and no opportunity of 
engaging himself, and when about discour- 
aged with his misfortunes, he received an 
offer to come to Buffalo, then a small vil- 
lage (though the terminus of the Erie Canal, 
recently completed), where he arrived in 
May, 1827, engaging himself with a Mr. R. 
W. Haskins, with whom he remained about 
three years at a salary of $5 a week and his 
board. 

In 1830, Mr. Steele went into business as 
bookseller and bookbinder. Soon after, 
in 1831, he was married to Miss Sarah E. 
Hull, granddaughter of Judge Zenas Barker, 
one of our earliest settlers of Buffalo. In 
1837, Mr. Steele was called to the office of 
superintendent of city schools, which were 
then in a very low state. In the winter of 
1837-8, he, in connection with Judge N. K. 
Hall, prepared the school law paper, con- 
tinuing in office three years, during which 
time the school system was thoroughly or- 
ganized, and which since that time has been 
very little changed. And to-day we may 
safely say the system is one of the most 
complete in the country. In 1 841-2, Mr. 





: C 




Ste] 



BF' jUAPIIICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



599 



G. was one of the city council, and was 
again elected in 1847. 

In 1848, he became very much interested 
in the organization of the Buffalo Gas Light 
Co., became its secretary, and has been 
connected with it as director, manager, or 
officer ever since. He was an active mover 
in the organization of the Water Co., in 
1852, and was its first secretary, holding the 
office for several years, and was one of its 
directors during its existence as a Company. 
Mr. Steele was one of the originators of the 
Buffalo Lyceum, and was one of its officers 
till the organization of the Y. M. Association, 
into which the old Lyceum was merged. 
For several years Mr. Steele was president 
of the old Mechanics' Society, and the first 
Mechanics' fairs were organized during his 
administration. He was also one of the 
originators of the Historical Society, and 
since its organization has been an officer, 
and was for some years its president, be- 
sides being the principal mover of the Nor- 
mal School, of which he is now the presi- 
dent. 

By looking over old records, and convers- 
ing with many of this gentleman's associates, 
we find he has been an active mover in 
every thing that has been for the public 
good. 

We also find he has been an officer in 
every literary society for public improve- 
ment, and we should think one in Mr. 
Steele's position can look upon the past un- 
sullied career of his useful life with con- 
scious pride and satisfaction. In the com- 
munity in which he lives he enjoys the en- 
tire confidence of all who know him, re- 
gardless of party or condition, as one of the 
purest of men, reliable in every respect, 
though modest and retiring, a man of great 

l 5 



attainments, which are sound and substan- 
tial. 

Steinway, Henry.— Mr. Henry Stein- 
way, founder of the well-known piano firm 
of Steinway & Sons, died at his residence 
February 7th, 1871. He was born in the 
Duchy of Brunswick, Germany, on the 15th 
of February 1797. An inherent talent for 
music, combined with positive inclination 
induced him in early boyhood to make his 
own musical instruments, on which he played 
with marked predilection and taste. These 
were the cythera and the guitar. In a 
short time his efforts in the direction he 
had selected received a further impetus. 
He first learned cabinet-making at Gosiar, 
and there also worked in an organ factory. 
After having thoroughly studied the art of 
piano-making, he found it an independent 
business, and becoming dissatisfied with the 
narrow sphere of a German State, he came 
to America with his family in 1850, and 
settled in New York. Three years after, 
with the assistance of his four sons — 
Charles, Henry, William, and Albert — Mr. 
Steinway founded the present firm. The 
commencement was made in a small rear 
building in Varick street, and the extent 
of the business did not average more than 
one piano per week. It is unnecessary to 
speak of the change which eighteen years 
have brought forth, and how the firm of 
Steinway & Sons grew to its present colos- 
sal proportions. Mr. Steinway was univer- 
sally respected, and a host of friends 
mourned has loss. 

Stewart, A. T., was born near Belfast, 
Ireland, October 27th, 1802. Left an orphan 
at an early age, he was cared for by his ma- 



6oo 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Ste 



ternal grandfather. Distinguished himself 
at school, and was entered at Trinity Col- 
lege, Dublin, where he did not graduate. 
Upon the death of his grandfather, a distant 
relative — a member of the Society of Friends 
— became his guardian. He emigrated to 
New York about 1818, bringing with him a 
few hundred pounds, a small part of which 
he inherited, and for a time taught mathe- 
matics and the classics in a private school. 
Having invested his ready money in a 
small mercantile venture, he found himself 
unexpectedly left alone in the business with 
the rent of the shop on his hands, and 
forced to become a trader. Returning to 
Ireland, he sold his other property, invested 
the proceeds in Irish laces and similar 
goods, and in 1S23 opened a small store on 
Broadway, and commenced the business 
which has since grown to be the most ex- 
tensive dry goods establishment in the 
world, with branches in England, France, 
Scotland, Ireland, and Germany, besides 
large manufactories of woolens, carpets, 
and hosiery in the United States, England, 
and Scotland, the whole employing about 
8000 persons. In addition to this manu- 
facturing and mercantile business, he came 
to be a large holder and improver of real 
estate in New York and vicinity, Saratoga, 
and other places, and at the time of his 
death was reputed to be one of the three 
wealthiest men in the United States, the 
other two being John Jacob Astor, who had 
a few weeks before inherited the bulk of 
the great Astor estate, and Cornelius Van- 
derbilt, who acquired the greater part of 
his property in railway operations. He re- 
tained all through his life his early fondness 
for classical literature, and was a munificent 
patron of art in certain departments, his 
picture-gallery containing some of the finest 



examples of modern art, while he had a lit- 
tle appreciation for the works of the old 
masters. Among his enterprises was the 
establishment of a town called Garden City, 
on Long Island, a few miles from Brooklyn. 
Here he purchased a tract of 10,000 acres, 
upon which he built more than one hun- 
dred dwellings, adapted for persons in 
moderate or comfortable circumstances, 
none of which were to be sold, but all of 
which would be rented, furnished, if de- 
sired, he himself defraying all the expenses 
of grading, lighting, and watering the 
streets, and building a railway to connect 
Garden City with Brooklyn. Some years 
before, he had commenced the erection of 
a large and costly building in New York 
designed as a home for working girls, and 
he had also made preparations for the erec- 
tion of a similar building for young work- 
ing men, each structure being designed to 
afford accommodation for 1500 inmates. 
He took no prominent part in public affairs, 
except that during the civil war he was an 
earnest upholder of the national govern- 
ment, and in 1869 accepted from President 
Grant the nomination as Secretary of the 
Treasury. The nomination was withdrawn, 
it being found that he was rendered legally 
inelligible for that position on account of 
his being engaged in the importation of for- 
eign merchandise. He was president of the 
honorary commission sent by the United 
States Government to the Paris Exposition 
of 1867. During the Irish famine of 1864, 
he chartered a vessel which he freighted 
with breadstuffs at his own expense, for 
gratuitous distribution among the sufferers, 
and brought back, free of charge, as many 
emigrants as the vessel would carry, stipu- 
lating that all should be of good character, 
and taking care that situations should be 





«7* v ^ 




Ste— Sto] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



603 



ready for them upon their arrival. He 
made considerable donations to the suffer- 
ers of the Chicago fire of 1871, and in the 
Franco-German War ; but apart from these, 
his benefactions, public or private, were not 
considerable, either during his life or by his 
will. Died in New York, April 10th, 1876, 
leaving no children. By his will his entire 
estate, with the exception of certain lega- 
cies, was devised to his wife, who, with 
Henry J. Hilton, his confidential friend and 
legal adviser, and William Libbey, his sole 
surviving business partner, were appointed 
executors. To Mr. Hilton was left a lega- 
cy of $1,000,000, and to several of .his prin- 
cipal employes sums amounting in the ag- 
gregate to something more than $100,000, 
his wife also being requested in a codicil 
to make provision for othen who had been 
long employed by him in such amounts as 
she could think proper She appropriated 
for this purpose a further sum of a little 
more than $200,000, making the entire 
amount of his legacies, exclusive of that to 
Mr. Hilton, about $1,325,000. 

Stewart, James T., was born at Dal- 
keith, near Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1824. 
He came to this country in 1837, and first 
settled in Tompkins County, New York, 
where he worked on the farms of his rela- 
tives for seven years, attending the common 
schools of the neighborhood each winter. 
While here he conceived the idea of being 
ambitious, and to satisfy his aspirations he 
started out alone for Rochester, with very 
little capital, which he put into the grocery 
business with a partner. At the end of two 
and a half years, Mr. Stewart bought his 
partner's interest, and continued the busi- 
ness alone for five years. This having 
proved successful, he determined to put his 



capital in a business susceptible of larger 
development, and concluded to start the 
manufacture of boots and shoes, in which' 
he was engaged many years. In 1874, he 
gave up leather, and embarked in rubber, 
the commodity being the same — boots and 
shoes, which he still continues on a larger 
scale. He is also president of the Roches- 
ter Hydraulic Co., a large stock concern, 
owning much of the real estate and water 
power of the Genesee Falls. In 1849, 
Mr. Stewart was married to Miss Minerva 
Hildreth, of Tompkins County, by whom 
he had three children. One son only sur- 
vives, who is associated with his father in 
business. He was again married in 1859 to 
Miss Elizabeth M. Smith, of Fairfield, Herki- 
mer County, N. Y., by whom he has had 
four children ; two only survive. 

James T. Stewart possesses all the frank- 
ness of manner, cordiality of feeling, hos- 
pitable disposition so characteristic of the 
true Scotchman. He necessarily has be- 
come popular in Rochester, and can num- 
ber as his friends many of the most influen- 
tial citizens. 

Story, Albert G., was born at Cherry 
Valley, Otsego County, N. Y., October, 
181 3. Here he continued to live until 
1833, receiving his early mental training in 
the village of his birth, and Union College. 
At the age of eighteen he was appointed 
teller of the Central Bank of Cherry Valley, 
which position he kept till his removal to 
Little Falls in 1833, where he accepted a 
similar position in the Herkimer County 
Bank. In 1835, he was appointed cashier, 
and in 1866 became president of the insti- 
tution, a position he still occupies. He 
was married in 1835 to the only daughter 
of Judge Morse, of Cherry Valley, by whom 



604 



lilOGKAPHICAL ENCYCLOT/EDIA. 



[Squ — Tal 



he has had five children, three of whom 
survive. During his whole life he has been 
a stirring practical business man, and his 
constitution being still vigorous and unen- 
feebled, and his fine intellect ripened by 
experience, he does honor to the official 
position he has so long held. Through 
life he has accomplished much, and now, 
dwelling in the affluence and honor gained 
by his industry and talents, he can look 
upon his past unsullied career with con- 
scious pride and satisfaction. 



Squier, George L., was born in Lanes- 
boro, Berkshire County, Mass., May 29th, 
1824. His great grandfather, lieutenant 
Andrew Squier, was one of the pioneers of 
Western Massachusetts, having moved from 
Connecticut to I.anesboro in 1734. 

Socrates Squier, the father of George L., 
was reared on the old homestead, and was 
for many years a prominent citizen of the 
town, holding many offices of trust and 
honor. George L. Squier, the subject of 
this sketch, received all the advantages of a 
New England education, and was gradu- 
ated at Williams College in 1845. After 
graduating, Mr. Squier entered upon the 
study of law, and was admitted to the bar 
at Springfield, Mass., in 1848. He prac- 
tised law in Holyoke for a short time, but 
his taste for mechanics soon drew him into 
manufacturing, and he became a member 
of the firm of Whittemore, Squier & Co., 
engaged in manufacturing agricultural im- 
plements, at Chicopee Falls, Mass. He re- 
mained in this connection until 1857, when 
he removed to Buffalo to take the position 
of president and manager of the Buffalo 
Agricultural Machine Works (a corporation 
engaged in the manufacture of agricultural 



implements), which position he held during 
the existence of the company. 

Mr. Squier then formed a partnership 
with his youngest brother, Henry, and com- 
menced the manufacture of plantation ma- 
chinery for tropical countries, in which 
business he is still engaged. 

Mr. Squier is a member of the Lafayette 
Street Presbyterian Church, and has held 
the offices of trustee, elder, and superin- 
tendent of the Sunday-school in that church. 

In February, 1857, he was married to 
Frances C. Pierce, of Waverly, N. Y., and 
has had five children, of whom four sons 
are now living. 

Tallman Charles, was born in Tully, 
Onondaga County, N. Y., in the year 1810. 
His parents, who were of Dutch and Dan- 
ish descent, emigrated to that section from 
New England in the early part of the pres- 
ent century. His father, Easton Tallman, 
a man of unusual energy, died at the early 
age of thirty-eight years, leaving six chil- 
dren, Charles, next to the oldest, being but 
nine years of age. 

The mother located upon a small farm, 
held her family together, and by strictest 
economy and industry reared them to man- 
hood and womanhood. 

Charles, being of slender constitution, did 
not take kindly to the labors of the farm, 
and was early on the look-out for some 
other occupation. He confesses that the 
early advantages afforded by the district 
school near him, scanty at the best, were 
not well improved, but later realizing more 
fully his need, he did apply himself at the 
Homer Academy, running in debt for 
board and tuition, an obligation afterward 
discharged by means obtained by teaching 
a district-school. 







<w,** 




ys,v^ ■■■---'',/■ 




sts.Q 





" 







#%tr 



TlF] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



609 



In 1833, he emigrated to Ohio, the " West" 
of those earlier days, but was unsuccessful 
in obtaining business, and soon returned to 
Tully. 

After gaining some little experience in 
the store of his uncle, the late Jedediah 
Barber, of Homer, in 1837 he commenced 
his career as a merchant in the village of 
Vesper, in his native town, where he re- 
mained for nine years, demonstrating his 
ability to succeed, and gaining a respecta- 
ble financial standing. In the spring of 
1846, he removed to Syracuse, a village at 
that time of about 11,000 inhabitants, and 
engaged in the drug trade with William H. 
Williams, under the firm name of Tallman 
& Williams. 

From this time his activities were not 
confined to any one sphere, but he became 
identified with many interests of importance 
in Syracuse and elsewhere, among which 
was the business of distilling, the provision 
trade, extensive farming in the West, cattle 
growing and wool raising, the mining of 
coal, the handling of real estate, and more 
recently he has lent his experience and 
means to extensive wholesale trade in his 
own city, being at present senior partner in 
the firms of A. N. Falmer & Co., W. L. Ross 
& Co., and Tallman, Giddings & Co. His 
business has made him familiar with various 
sections of our country, and his natural de- 
sire for travel has taken him to nearly all 
parts of it, visiting the Pacific coast in 1875. 

Being an interested observer, he has be- 
come conversant with the topography and 
resources of the United States. He is 
largely identified with the growth of his own 
city, to which he has contributed by the 
erection of buildings and warehouses, and 
by the employment of his means in home 
industries. He has had the satisfaction of 



seeing it grow from 1 1,000 to nearly 60,000 
inhabitants, and he may feel that he has 
done his part towards its material growth 
and prosperity. He has gained from his 
varied enterprises not only an ample for- 
tune, but experience and a correctness of 
judgment which commands the respect of 
his associates, and makes his counsel valu- 
able to younger men. He has never sought 
or held political office. 

He lives in the southern section of the 
city, in a valuable residence, surrounded by 
extensive grounds, to the improvement of 
which he devotes more of his leisure, as he 
feels less and less the necessity for the 
close application to business which has 
distinguished him, and when surrounded 
by his children and children's children, he 
enjoys the comforts of a busy life. 

Tifft, George W., was born Jan. 31st, 
1805, in the town of Nassau, Rensselaer 
County, N. Y., and was the youngest son of a 
family of twelve, of John and Annie Valette 
Tifft, who migrated from Rhode Island some 
years before his birth. 

Mr. Tifft spent most of his- time on the 
farm with his mother till he was sixteen 
years old; the only schooling he received was 
about two months each year. At the age of 
sixteen, the farm was sold to his older 
brothers, and an arrangement was made by 
which he should work on it till he was of 
age, he to have three months' schooling and 
four dollars a year, and on becoming of age 
a yoke of oxen and a horse for his service ; 
but owing to a disagreement, he left at the 
end of one year and went to work for his 
brother David for ten dollars a month, where 
he remained only a short time ; at the end 
of which time, he went to work with his bro- 
ther John. They together cleared some new 



6io 



BIOCxRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[TlF 



land and divided the profits on the sale of 
the wood. At this he did well. When 
through, he went to New Lebanon, Columbia 
County, and attended school for four months 
At the age of eighteen, he returned to his 
former home, and bought a five-acre lot of 
timber and an axe, and went to work clear- 
ing, doing the work himself; the wood find- 
ing a ready market, he made quite a nice 
little sum. He afterward bought consider- 
able land for clearing ; but instead of doing 
the work himself, he engaged laborers, he 
measuring and selling the wood. This lasted 
till between the age of twenty-one and 
twenty-two, when with $1000 he had re- 
ceived from his father's estate, and $1200 he 
had saved, he went to Orleans County and 
bought a farm. After settling up the busi- 
ness part of this transaction, he returned to 
his former field of labor and resumed the 
wood-cutting business, and speculated con- 
siderably in lands. On the 14th of March, 
1827, Mr. Tifft was espoused to Miss Lucy, 
daughter of Joseph and Thankful Enos. They 
have had seven children, three of whom are 
living. In 1830, Mr. Tifft closed up his 
affairs in Nassau, and went out to his farm in 
Orleans County, which he worked himself till 
1832 ; at which time, though continuing to 
live on his farm, he gave his whole attention 
to operating in grain and the milling busi- 
ness, which proved very successful. In 1842, 
he went to Buffalo, and went into the milling 
business with Dean Richmond, Esq. At 
the end of one year, however, he made an 
arrangement with Gordon Grant, of Troy, 
who was owner of the Troy and Michigan 
Line, to open a branch of the Troy house in 
the forwarding business, the firm being G. 
W. Tifft & Co. At the end of a vear, Mr. 
Grant sold out the line of boats, and Mr. 
Tifft formed a partnership with Henry H. 



Sizer in the produce commission business, 
the firm being Sizer & Tifft. After one year, 
Mr. Tifft sold out his interest to his partner. 
In 1845, he again went into business with 
his former partner Dean Richmond, when 
they bought the Erie Mills, which they ran 
in conjunction with three others. Mr. Tifft 
was fully identified with the milling business 
till the starting of the International Bank in 
July, 1854, when he became its first president, 
continuing such until 1857, that being the 
year of the financial crash. Mr. Tifft being a 
heavy stockholder and indorser of the Buf- 
falo Steam- Engine Company, for whom he 
had to pay $94,000, was compelled to sus- 
pend. He took the charge and responsi- 
bility of the said company in his own hands, 
the creditors allowing him an extension of 
four years, and by his superior financiering and 
management paid his whole indebtedness in 
one half the time. In 1857, he invested in 
coal-mines in Mercer County, Pa., which 
came into his hands as did the Engine Com- 
pany, where he built two blast furnaces. 
While operating these, he made the experi- 
ment of melting Lake Superior ore with 
mineral coal, which proved a grand success. 
In 1858, Mr. Tifft was elected president of 
the Buffalo, New York and Erie R.R. In 
1863, he built in the city of Buffalo seventy- 
four dwelling-houses, the Tifft House, and 
an elevator, which latter he afterward sold to 
the Erie R.R. Co. The business occupy- 
ing his attention now is the Buffalo Steam- 
Engine Works, owned by G. W. Tifft, Sons 
& Co., and a private stock company, the 
shareholders being members of his own 
fiimily, including his daughters, though the 
premises are owned by Mr. Tifft personally. 
They also own the Tifft Fire-Proof Elevator, 
which cost about $600,000. Mr. Tifft also 
owns one half interest in the Evans Elevator. 



Tho— Tro] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



613 



The subject of this sketch has been a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church for forty 
years, and may always be found taking an 
active part in all benevolent and charitable 
enterprises. Among the many things he has 
done was the donation of the Ingleside 
Home, which cost between forty and fifty 
thousand dollars. Thus he has liberally 
dispensed his charities, and seen and enjoyed 
the fruits of them while living. He has the 
love and respect of zealous, admiring friends, 
and many business men who have been 
helped on in life by him breathe his name 
with gratitude. 

Thompson, J. L. — The subject of this 
sketch wasborn December 1st, 1797, at Ame- 
nia, Dutchess County, N. Y. He can trace 
his ancestry to Anthony Thompson, of Coven- 
try, England, who arrived in Boston, on board 
the ship Hector, in company with Gov. 
Eaton and the Rev. Mr. Davenport, June 
20th, 1637. Anthony Thompson had two 
children. Then comes John Thompson, three 
children ; Samuel Thompson, who married 
a daughter of Gov. Bishop of Connecticut, 
eight children; Samuel Thompson, three 
children ; Ezra Thompson, nine children ; 
Ezra Thompson, Jr., nine children; John L. 
Thompson, of Troy, who was married in 
August, 1829, to Mary P. Thompson, of New 
London, Ct., and by whom he has had 
eight children, all living. Mr. John L. 
Thompson moved to Troy in 18 17, and en- 
tered the drug-store, on the same spot he 
now is engaged in business, as clerk for Dr. 
Samuel Gale. Five years later, he became 
a partner, the firm style changing to Gale & 
Thompson. Subsequently Mr. Thompson 
bought Mr. Gale's interest. In 1841, Mr. 
D. Cowes, formerly a clerk, was admitted to 
the firm, and in 1855 his sons John I. and Wil- 



liam A. became partners, and the firm changed 
to J. L. Thompson, Sons & Co., the present 
style. The present head of the firm has 
pursued seduously his trade, never wavering 
from the paths of legitimate business, and 
giving it that attention which insures success. 
There are some men whose judgment ap- 
pears almost infallible. The ambition of Mr. 
Thompson has been to become a thorough 
business man ; and his well-known and envia- 
ble reputation is a testimony that he has suc- 
ceeded in the accomplishment of his wishes ; 
and though in his eightieth year, he still pur- 
sues his daily business routine with that zeal 
and ardor that would characterize the ambi- 
tion of youth. 

Trowbridge, Dr. Josiah, was born 

in Framingham, Mass., September 28th, 
1785. He was a descendant from a highly 
respected English family, and his American 
ancestry occupied an elevated position 
among the early colonists, his direct lineage 
being Thomas Trowbridge, a gentleman of 
means, who emigrated to this country in 
1636. The father of Dr. Trowbridge was 
no ordinary man, as the records of his life 
show. He served in the Revolutionary army, 
first at the battle of Bunker Hill, and after- 
ward orderly sergeant with Washington, in 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Trowbridge remained at home, some- 
what advanced in years, assisting his father 
on the farm. This proving too laborious, 
he, in 1799, took the position of clerk with 
an elder brother, in Boston. Tiring of this, 
and seized with a desire to see more of the 
world, he shipped for Holland in 1800. 
After his return, he undertook a course of 
preparatory studies, with a view to the adop- 
tion of the medical profession. During 
this time, he taught school two winters, the 



614 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Urb — Van 



first in Southboro', and the next in his 
native town. He first began to read with 
Dr. Willard, of Uxbridge, and finished with 
Dr. Kittridge. His first professional efforts 
were put forth in Weathersfield, Vermont, 
where he remained for a brief time. In 
1811, in company with a young lawyer, he 
came to Buffalo on horseback. Buffalo 
not offering sufficient encouragement, he 
took up his residence in Fort Erie, and 
there remained till the declaration of war, 
when he returned to Buffalo. During his 
residence in Canada, he formed an attach- 
ment and was married to Miss Margaret 
Wintermute, September 2 2d, 1813. He 
continued his practice in Buffalo till 1836, 
when he had accumulated a handsome prop- 
erty, and retired from his profession and 
gave his time entirely to the management of 
his private affairs. In 1837, when the crash 
came, he was among the unfortunates, los- 
ing his all. 

It was in this year he was elected mayor. 
In 1839, he was appointed commissioner 
to represent certain rights possessed by the 
State of Massachusetts, in the lands owned 
by the Seneca Indians, and about to be 
ceded to the Ogden Land Company, by 
treaty and purchase. In 1838, he resumed 
his profession with Dr. Winnie and so con- 
tinued till 1842. He, however, did a large 
private and consulting practice till 1856, 
and died on the 27th of September, 1862, 
deeply mourned by all who knew him, as a 
man whose like was seldom to be met with. 

(See portrait page 365.) 

Urban, George, was born in Alsace, 
France, August 19th, 1820. His early edu- 
cation received attention in his native coun- 
try, and when fifteen years old, he emigrated 
to this country with his parents, who settled 



in the town of Black Rock. The first seven 
years spent here, he was engaged at various 
kinds of laborious duties, though in 1842, he 
received the appointment to a clerkship, 
which he filled for four years; being indus- 
trious and ambitious, he confined himself 
closely to business, and in 1846, started in 
the flour, feed, grocery, and provision busi- 
ness for himself, on the same spot he now 
occupies, at No. 144 Genesee street, Buffalo. 
Ten years ago, he became purely a flour 
merchant, which business he still continues 
in the full tide of success. He was mar- 
ried August 15th, 1846, to Miss Mary Kern, 
formerly of Alsace, the issue of which has 
been two sons and one daughter, his 
eldest son, George Urban, Jr., being a part- 
ner with his father in business. Mr. Urban 
is also one of the Park Commissioners of 
Buffalo, besides being a director in the 
Western Savings Bank. Thus we see the 
biography of such a man as George Urban 
is fraught not only with readable interest, 
but has a useful moral effect upon the pres- 
ent time and posterity. Commencing at 
the bottom rung, he has steadily progressed 
till he is ranked with the soundest and most 
substantial business men of Buffalo. It is 
such subjects that teach youth what in- 
dustry and moral worth can achieve, and 
that they can hope for all things if they 
make honor their guide and are prompted 
by honorable emulation. 

Vanderbilt, Cornelius, was born on 

Staten Island, N. Y., May 27th, 1794. His 
parents emigrated from Holland, and were 
among the early settlers of New York. He 
had a meagre education, and at an early age 
devoted himself to sailing boats in New 
York Bay. At the age of sixteen, he pur- 
chased a boat of his own, and ran it as a ferry 







e^-A K 




Ver] 



HIOCRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



617 



between New York and Staten Island. 
During the war of 1812, be carried some 
officers from Fort Richmond during a peril- 
ous storm, being the only boatman in the 
harbor who would undertake the task — carry- 
ing them, as he said, " part way under water." 
In 1 8 14, he carried government supplies to 
various posts about New York, and that year 
he built a small schooner for his increased 
business ; in the year following, he built a 
larger schooner for the coast trade. In 181 7, 
having accumulated $9000 from his harbor 
trade, he entered the employ of Thomas Gib- 
bons, and became captain of a small steam- 
boat running between New York and New 
Brunswick, N. J., on the road to Philadel- 
phia. He also took charge of a hotel at 
New Brunswick, where the passengers remain- 
ed over night. He remained with Mr. Gib- 
bons for twelve years, during which time the 
line of steamboats had grown to be one of great 
importance ; at the end of that time, he re- 
signed his position and started out for him- 
self; he built several small steamboats; and 
ran them to points on the Hudson River, 
and other places near New York. In 1851, 
he established the route of steamships be- 
tween New York and California, by way of 
Nicaragua, which he managed for two years, 
when he sold out and acted as agent for a 
short time ; subsequently he was chosen 
president of the company. In May, 1853, 
having amassed immense wealth, he built 
the steamship North Star, and taking his 
family on board, made a tour of Europe in it 
at his private expense. In April, 1855, he 
established an independent line of steamships 
between New York and Havre. In the 
spring of 1862, he presented the government 
with the finest steamship, the Vanderbilt, for 
which Congress passed a resolution of thanks 
to him. Subsequently, he withdrew his 
16 



money from vessels and invested it in rail- 
roads. He was President of the New York 
Central and Hudson River Railroad, the 
Harlem Railroad, and was a Director in the 
Western Union Telegraph Company. In 
1870, he purchased the building known as 
the Mercer Street Presbyterian Church, in 
New York City, and presented it to the Rev. 
Charles Force Deems, pastor of a free and 
independent church of Jesus Christ, organized 
in 1868 under the name pf the Church of the 
Strangers, to be used by that society as a 
place of public worship. On March 27th, 
1873, Mr. Vanderbilt presented the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, with $500,000, 
afterward increasing the amount to about 
$1,000,000, to be used in founding a univer- 
sity at Nashville, Tenn., for the education of 
the youth of the church. The board of trus- 
tees of the proposed institution voted to call 
it Vanderbilt University, after its chief founder, 
and it was opened October 4th, 1875. Mr. 
Vanderbilt had been twice married, and had 
thirteen children. He died at New York, 
January 4th, 1877. His son William Henry, 
born in New Brunswick, N. J., May 8th, 
1821, was in 1873 elected Vice-President of 
the Hudson River Railroad Company. 

Verplanck, J. A., was born in the town 
of Coeymans, Albany County, N. Y., on the 
1 6th of October, 1812. He received a good 
academical education. He entered Union 
College at the age of fourteen, and graduated 
at the age of twenty-two. In 1831, he 
moved to Batavia, Genesee County, and 
began the study of law with Allen & Chand- 
ler. He was admitted to the bar in 1834, 
and speedily attained a very respectable posi- 
tion. Upon the retirement of Mr. Allen, his 
preceptor and father-in-law, he became a 
partner of Daniel H. Chandler. He subse- 



6i8 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Vic 



quently practised in partnership with John 
H. Martindale, now of Rochester. During 
his residence in Batavia, he served two terms 
as District-Attorney of Genesee County, was 
a brigadier-general of the militia, and was 
appointed United States agent to negotiate 
treaties with the Indians in the Lake Superior 
country. He came to this city in 1847, and 
entered into partnership with H. K. Smith ; 
was one of the justices of the Superior Court 
in 1854. Since then was twice elected to the 
same office, once without opposition, and 
occupied the position at the time of his death, 
which occurred April 15th, 1873. He was a 
member of the Constitutional Convention in 
1867-68. Judge Verplanck was a remarkable 
man, we scarcely need hesitate to say, a great 
man. He reached accurate decisions with 
lightning speed, as if by inspiration. He was 
a man of great mental resources, an able 
lawyer, a true-born gentleman and a noble- 
hearted, generous citizen. 

Vick, James, was born in the suburbs 
of Portsmouth, England, November 23d, 
1 818. At an early day he exhibited a pas- 
sion for every thing pertaining to horticul- 
ture. At the age of fifteen, he came to this 
country, with his father's family. On his ar- 
rival, he engaged himself with a printing- 
house in New York, for the purpose of learn- 
ing the trade ; and for three years he applied 
himself so thoroughly that he moved to 
Rochester, and was engaged by various 
offices as a compositor. But as his taste was 
in the agricultural line, he was drawn toward 
the office of the Genesee Farmer, published 
in this city by Luther Tucker. So much at- 
traction had floriculture for him that about 
this time he secured a small garden, culti- 
vated flowers, and wrote on their beauty and 
habits. 



When the Genesee Farmer passed out 
of Mr. Tucker's hands, Mr. Vick assumed 
its publication, though it was owned by 
others. As a publisher and editor he proved 
himself a most decided success. By the un- 
timely death of Andrew J. Downing, Mr. 
Vick became the owner and publisher of the 
Horticulturist — he moving it from New York 
to Rochester, Mr. Patrick Barry being its 
editor. Mr. Vick published this valuable 
paper for about four years, when he disposed 
of it, in order that he might devote his 
whole time to seed-growing, to which he had 
always given much of his attention. He, 
however, found it difficult to give up jour- 
nalism altogether; and in 1857 he became 
the horticultural editor of Moore's Rural 
New Yorker, continuing to give a portion of 
his time as such till 1862, when his seed 
business demanded his sole attention. 

In the ten years intervening, his business 
had increased to a surprising extent; so 
much so, indeed, that his name had become 
a " household word." His " Floral Guide" 
had found willing readers all over the land. 
The number of these books now annually 
published is about one quarter of a million. 
The business of which he is the head is one 
of vast importance, not only in the city in 
which it is carried on, but over the whole 
land. The number of hands employed is 
about one hundred and fifty. As much of 
his business is done through the mail, he has 
a post-office in his establishment ; so that the 
mail is all put up in the bags, and taken 
directly to the railroad, without going through 
the city post-office, one of his employes 
acting as deputy postmaster for the govern- 
ment. To give the reader an idea of the 
vastness of this department of the business, 
it is only necessary to say that the number 
of letters received and dispatched in a day 




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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



623 



often aggregates 4000, the year's postage 
amounting nearly to $35,000. In connection 
with the house is a printing-office, book- 
bindery, and box- factory. Perfect system 
prevails in every department, Mr. Vick over- 
seeing the entire business himself. It is very 
easy to understand that the control of such 
an establishment demands no small amount 
of executive ability. Want of space only 
compels us to withhold much of interest in 
connection with the sketch of this gentleman. 
His knowledge of horticulture has won him 
an enviable reputation in not only this coun- 
try, but in all parts of the world. He was 
for a long time secretary of the American 
Pomological Society — a position, though in- 
volving much labor, at the same time bring- 
ing him into intimate relations with all the 
ablest horticulturists in this country. In 
1871, he was paid the high compliment of 
an election as " corresponding member" of 
the Royal Horticultural Society of England 
— a compliment more marked, because rarely 
tendered any one outside of England or 
English domain. In all parts of Europe 
where he has travelled, he has received con- 
siderate attention and the most hearty wel- 
come. 

We can safely say, in conclusion, that Mr. 
Vick is one among a thousand, a truly self- 
made man ; one who has given much of his 
time and labor for the benefit of his fellow- 
man. And well may the citizens of Rochester 
be justly proud in being able to claim him as 
one of them. 



Vilas, Samuel Flint, was born at 
Sterling, Lamoille County, Vermont, Janu- 
ary 9th, 1807. 

When in his twentieth year, Mr. Vilas 
commenced, without means and wholly upon 



credit, to wholesale Yankee notions through 
the northern portion of New York. 

To this business in this then very thinly 
settled country, where dwellings were miles 
apart, he devoted the first ten years of his 
business life, enlarging his business with his 
steadily increasing means. 

These early years of patient labor and of 
close, calculating economy, laid the founda- 
tion, broad and firm, for that remarkable suc- 
cess which has attended him in every thing 
he has undertaken. 

The property acquired during this period 
was not so large; but the business character, 
principles, and habits which he formed ; the 
thorough knowledge of mankind which he 
acquired; and the extended acquaintance 
which he made with business men, have been 
of incalculable advantage to him. 

Settling at Plattsburg, N. Y., in 1836, he 
there commenced and continued for over 
thirty years the first and only wholesale 
business carried on in Clinton County. 
This embraced not only dry goods and 
Yankee notions, also the manufacture and 
sale of tinware upon a large scale. 

He personally superintended and directed 
its management for about eleven years, when 
he gave up its chief care to a partner, and 
devoted his own time, with characteristic 
energy, sagacity, and success, to the business 
of a private banker. 

In 1864, he organized "The Vilas Na- 
tional Bank of Plattsburg," of which he 
has ever since been the president. So large 
and prosperous was the business of this 
bank, that Mr. Vilas in 1868 gave up en- 
tirely the wholesale business. 

He has dealt quite extensively in wool, 
lumber, iron, and timber lands. Regarding 
Plattsburg as his permanent home, he has 
always taken a lively interest in whatever his 



624 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[Wal-Wea 



well-balanced judgment assured him would 
promote its welfare. 

The older residents recall with interest 
how the dulness of the times and the great 
difficulties of doing business in Plattsburg 
and Clinton County were relieved by the 
building of the Saranac River Plank Road, 
and the P. & M. R.R. ; they also recall the 
material and efficient aid given to these pub- 
lic enterprises by Mr. Vilas ; indeed, it is no 
injustice to others to say that he, more than 
any one individual, was instrumental in organ- 
izing and prosperously maintaining, during 
his connection with them, both of these roads. 
The existence, high standing, and pros- 
perity of the Northern New York Insurance 
Company, which, after paying or securing all 
its policy-holders, was dissolved a few years 
since, were chiefly due to his management 
as its president. 

To the churches, academy, and schools of 
Plattsburg, he has been a liberal supporter, 
both by his means and his counsel, while a 
member of their several boards of trustees. 

He was joined in wedlock, August 6th, 
1836, to Miss Harriet E., daughter of James 
Hunt, Esq., of Pinckney, Lewis County, 
N. Y. 

By his own personal efforts and by strict 
application to business, he has reached his 
present assured condition of prosperity, and 
he has reason to feel at least satisfied with 
his life's work and success. 

Walker, William H., was born August 
20th, 1 825, at TJ tica, N. Y., a son of Stephen 
and Sally Walker. His father moved from 
Utica to Buffalo in 1832, and the subject of 
this sketch was educated at the Buffalo 
Academy, Silas Kingsley principal, and also 
at the well-known private school of Mr. Fay 
and Mr. Chambers. At the age of nineteen, 



he entered the boot and shoe store of O. P. 
Ramsdell, and became his partner in 185 1. 
In 1853, he went to Albany, studied law, and 
look the gold medal for the best essay in 
equity jurisprudence at the close- of the 
term at the Albany Law School. He re- 
turned to Buffalo in 1854, again became as- 
sociated with O. P. Ramsdell, and contin- 
ued in business with him till February 1st 
1876, when his present business was estab- 
lished. 

He was married October 21st, 1869, to 
Edith Kimberly, daughter of John L. Kim- 
berly, Esq., of Buffalo, the issue of which 
has been two children. 

Weaver, George S. — Among the many 
who have attained prominence through in- 
dustry and unwearied application, few are 
entitled to more respect and consideration 
than George S. Weaver. Reared amid rural 
opportunities, his early training was un- 
favorable to the development of his mental 
powers ; but with the native force of his 
mind, enriched by reading and observation, 
he soon overcame the obstacles of early 
life. Without the advantages of inherited 
aid or consequence, he worked the problem 
of his own fortune, and lives to enjoy the 
fruition of a successful business career. 

Mr Weaver was born July 9th, 1826, in 
Yates County, N. Y., where he received a 
limited common-school education, working 
summers upon a farm, and attending school 
in winter. The benefit derived from man- 
ual labor was to invigorate and strengthen 
a constitution naturally frail. At the age 
of seventeen, he engaged as clerk in a gen- 
eral store, in which capacity he served until 
his twentieth year, when he was admitted 
as junior partner with John H. Lapham, a 
successful druggist at Penn Yan. It was 





2V 




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■ • ■ 



j^mi) So was® 



Wee]' 



BIOCRANIKAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



629 



here he acquired habits of industry, econo- 
my, and perseverance, traits of character 
peculiarly prominent in Mr. Lapham. His 
duties in this connection were arduous, 
working from five o'clock in the morning 
until eleven at night, it being the custom of 
Mr. L. to sit in the store evenings until very 
late. This laborious life proved too much 
for his slender constitution, and, to his re- 
luctance and the regret of his partner, he 
was forced to quit the business he had fair- 
ly entered with flattering prospects of suc- 
cess. For three months he struggled against 
disease, caused by over-work and the un- 
wholesome atmosphere of the drug store. 

Mr. Weaver passed the following winter 
in a rude lumbering shanty in Pennsylvania 
with his father and brother, who were en- 
gaged in manufacturing square timber for 
the eastern market. By close attention to 
the laws of health, with plenty of pure air 
and plain food, he came out of his forest 
quarters improved in physical condition. 
What appeared a misfortune at the time he 
severed his connection with the drug store, 
turned to his advantage in after life. The 
knowledge he obtained of the lumbering 
business, in this effort to regain his health, 
proved of great value in enabling him to 
extend his business operations. His health 
restored, he was not long waiting for some- 
thing to do. With a small capital, and fair 
credit, he invested with his father in the 
lumbering business. He also operated with 
his brother until the year 1S61, when a co- 
partnership was entered into with Elish 
Mors, of Waterford. The new firm dealt 
largely in all varieties of lumber. This en- 
terprise proving successful, the business was 
afterwards extended to West Troy and 
Gteenbush. The war commencing about 
this period, found the firm of Mors & Wea- 



ver fully able and prepared to enter the 
field in competition with any company in 
the country for government work and sup- 
plies. To them was awarded the contract 
to furnish timber for the five Monitors built 
by Messrs. Corning & Griswold, of Albany 
and Troy. With three large saw mills in 
operation, and the constant employment of 
about fifty men in the city of New York, 
the work was vigorously pushed forward. 
Time was important, and to the promptness 
and energy of this firm much credit must 
be given for meeting the necessities of the 
hour in a critical period of the rebellion. 

Mr. Weaver remained in business with 
Mr. Mors until the year 1S71, when he re- 
tired from the co-partnership. Since the 
dissolution of the firm he has continued to 
deal extensively in lumber, and for several 
years furnished all the timber used by the 
N. Y. Central and Hudson River Railroads. 

He never sought official position, but 
confined himself exclusively to his legiti- 
mate pursuits. By industry, sagacity, and 
good judgment, he has accumulated a sub- 
stantial fortune. He is endowed with a 
heart of unstudied and disinterested gen- 
erosity, of liberal impulses, and of a sympa- 
thetic nature. In manners he is polished 
and graceful, with a geniality that makes 
him agreeable in every circle. 

Weed, Jared S— The subject of this 
sketch was the eldest son of the late Alsop 
Weed, one of Troy's oldest and most prom- 
inent merchants, and was born in the town 
of Greenfield, Saratoga County, N. Y., May 
3d, 1808. When five years of age, he 
moved with his parents to Troy, where he 
resided until his death, which occurred in 
1876. Having completed his education, he 
became one of the firm of A. Weed & Sons. 



630 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



[Wel 



With his superior education, and all his 
keen business talent, he soon discovered 
that he could learn much from the practical 
sagacity of his father, and he doubtless drew 
from that source much that in after years 
gave him such a ready and thorough insight 
into all the various bearings of a great busi- 
ness enterprise. 

In 1835, Mr. W T eed was joined in wed- 
lock to a daughter of the late Sylvanus Nor- 
ton, long identified with the business inter- 
ests of Troy. The issue of this marriage 
was one daughter. Mr. Weed, though not 
an office-seeker, held several offices of trust 
and responsibility. From 1842 to 1845 he 
was a member of the Aldermanic Board ; 
from 1846 to 1849 he was Chamberlain of 
the city. He was the second president of 
the Troy and Boston R. R. From 1850 to 
1870 he was president of the Troy Savings 
Bank, and for many years an active mem- 
ber of the Second Street Presbyterian 
Church. In every position in life he was 
the same ; modest, unassuming, he per- 
formed all his labors in a dignified, noiseless 
manner, and those who knew him well 
know what a vast amount of labor he dis- 
posed of. Of all his business enterprises, 
the Troy and Boston R. R. was the most 
successful, and will live long as a proud 
monument to his fair name and reputation. 

Weller, Jacob J.— The subject of this 
sketch was born in Buffalo, N. V., April 
27th, 1839. At the age of fourteen years, 
he came to the determination to do some- 
thing for himself, and engaged as an ap- 
prentice to Hersee & Timmerman to learn 
the cabinet business. He readily mastered it, 
and showed such marked ability that be- 
fore the expiration of his apprenticeship he 
was made foreman over a number of men 



in his department. He was afterward pro- 
moted to a clerkship ; he mastered the detail 
of the business, and in course of time be- 
came the leading salesman, also doing all 
the buying for their large establishment, 
which annually sold some hundreds of 
thousands of dollars' worth of their manufac- 
ture. He being prudent and careful, and 
with a view to his future interests, saved 
his earnings, and was thus enabled to pur- 
chase a quarter interest in the business, 
which he retained for four years, at the end 
of which time the partnership was dis- 
solved. In less than three months, such 
was the influence he possessed, and great the 
esteem in which he was held by the business 
men of the city, he was enabled to in- 
duce some capitalists to join him in the 
purchase of the business ; he negotiated 
the business successfully, and became the 
senior member of the firm, under the style 
and title of Weller, Brown & Mesmer. 

The house has sustained an enviable repu- 
tation, which is not confined alone to 
Buffalo, and is owing to the business tact 
and experience of its head, who is destined 
to become one of the foremost business 
men of Buffalo. 

Wells, John E. — There are men whose 
characters are so nobly planned by nature, 
and so plentifully adorned with those vir- 
tues which ennoble humanity, that it is a 
duty and a pleasure to write their biogra- 
phies, and place them on record as memorials 
to posterity for its benefit and instruction. 
The subject of this sketch was born at 
Johnstown, N. Y., August 7th, 1822. Dur- 
ing his youth he received a thorough train- 
ing in the common school and academy at 
Johnstown, and at an early age he had 
charge of his father's business. In 1843, 








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Whe— Whi] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP/EDIA. 



635 



he opened a flouring mill, and since 
that date he has been most actively 
engaged in milling, farming, and building, 
and to his credit, be it said, he has in the 
latter branch of industry done more to build 
the town of his birth, and furnish it with 
beautiful homes, than any other man who 
ever lived there. In 1845, he was married 
to Miss Sabra M. Steel, by whom he had 
one daughter, now living at Kingsboro. In 
1S48, he was married the second time to 
Miss Margaret E. Burton, of Johnstown, and 
they now live in their beautiful homestead 
which has been in the family possession for 
eighty-four years. This h ouse was originally 
built by Sir William Johnson, in 1762, and is 
one of the few landmarks remaining of that 
celebrated English lord. The halls on both 
floors are fifteen by forty feet, and the stair- 
case is still provided with the original ban- 
isters which Brandt, the Indian chief, hacked 
with his tomahawk as a signal to the incom- 
ing tribes not to destroy the mansion. (See 
Stone's History of Brandt). 

John E. Wells has liberally dispensed his 
charities, and seen and enjoyed the fruits 
of them while living. His good works live 
around him, and he can enjoy them, for 
there is no one more deeply respected by 
zealous, admiring friends than is J. E. 
Wells. 

Wheeler, William A., was born June 
30th, 181 9, in Malone, Franklin County, N. 
Y. Entered the University of Vermont in 
the class which graduated in 1842, but was 
compelled by adverse pecuniary circum- 
stances to leave at the middle of the course. 
He pursued the study of law at Malone 
with the Hon. Asa Hascall, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1845. He was for several 
years District-Attorney for the county 



of Franklin. He represented that county 
in the Assembly of New York in the years 
1850 and 1 85 1 ; in the latter year he en- 
gaged in the business of banking at Malone, 
which was continued until 1865. From 
1854 to 1865 he was president of the board 
of trustees of the second mortgage bond- 
holders of the Northern New York Railroad 
Company, and as such managed the railroad 
of that company. He was a member of the 
Senate of the State of New York for the 
years 1858 and 1859, and for that time 
president, pro. tem., of the same. He was 
a member of Congress during the first two 
years of the war of the rebellion. Was a 
member and president of the New York 
Constitutional Convention in 1867-8. He 
was again elected to Congress in 1868, 
where he remained continuously until 
March 4th, 1877. On the 5th day of 
March, 1877, he was inaugurated Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States. Mr. Wheeler 
was a member of the House Committee, 
raised in the 43d Congress, upon Southern 
affairs, and in that capacity united the 
State of Louisiana, and was the author of 
the plan for composing the political diffi- 
culties in that State, which was finally ac- 
cepted, and is known as the " Wheeler Ad- 
justment." 

White, John G., was born on board 
the Ship Fair America, Captain Duplex, 
on the Atlantic Ocean, on the 2 2d day of 
July, 1801, his parents, Matthew White 
and Elizabeth Given White, emigrating 
from the County Tyrone, north of Ireland, 
for America, and landing at the city of 
New York. The years of his childhood 
were spent mostly in the western part of 
Pennsylvania, and until 1813, when his 
parents moved to the city of Albany, where, 



6 3 6 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[Whi 



in 1814, his father died at the age of forty- 
five, leaving a family of seven children — four 
boys and three girls — in humble circum- 
stances, so that the boys were obliged to 
put on the harness for the journey of life at 
a very early age, and with but little advan- 
tages of education. John G., the subject 
of this article, was, in 18 14, at the age of 
thirteen years, indentured as an apprentice 
to the publishers and printers of the Albany 
Gazette, with whom he served the full 
length of his apprenticeship. During the 
first year of his apprenticeship, Thurlow 
Weed, Esq., worked in the office, type-set- 
ting as a journeyman printer, and the sub- 
sequent year J. G. assisted Tom Tillman to 
make the first patent roller that was ever 
made outside New York City, which very 
soon took the place of the old-fashioned 
balls. Before he had reached his twenty- 
first year, he purchased from Solomon South- 
wick, Esq., the printing office and Albany 
Register, a semi-weekly paper, Israel W. 
Clark being editor, which in a few years was 
given up and the printing office sold to 
John C. Johnson. In 1823, J. G. W., in 
connection with his brother William, was 
for a year or two engaged in the wholesale 
grocery business, during which time they, in 
connection with some of the principal mer- 
chants of the city, got up a West India 
Company, with the view of opening a direct 
West India trade with this city. The 
schooner Enterprise was chartered from 
Davis & Center, and loaded with flour and 
provisions, together with twenty horses, 
leaving Albany in the month of November, 
and did not return until next spring, with a 
cargo of sugar and St. Croix rum, proving 
a very profitable trip for the owner of the 
vessel, but unfortunate for the stockholders. 
In 1824, J. G. White was one of the com- 



mittee appointed by the city authorities to 
make suitable arrangements for the cele- 
bration of the completion of the Erie Canal, 
there now being only three of that commit- 
tee living, viz., Thomas W. Alcott, Samuel 
Morgan, and John G. White. In 1825, J. 
G. W. and his brother William entered 
into the brewing and malting business, and, 
in connection with Samuel Puyn, it was con- 
tinued several years. On the 25th of March 
of that year, Mr. J. G. White was married 
to Hannah J., the third daughter of Elisha 
Putnam, Esq. Subsequently withdrew from 
the brewing business, but has continued 
that of malting up to the present time in 
connection with his sons Matthew and An- 
drew G. The latter is personally interebt- 
ed, being one of the firm of John G. White 
& Son. The senior of this firm has, during 
his long experience in the business, built 
and rebuilt nineteen malt-houses, and intro- 
duced many improvements ; among them is 
one universally adopted in building malt- 
houses, where real estate is valuable, and 
embodies the construction of a number of 
kilns, one over the other, and the use of 
superheated steam in drying malt. 

On the 25th of March, 1875, the subject of 
this article, with his partner in life, had the 
pleasure and satisfaction of meeting a great 
number of their friends on the fiftieth anni- 
versary of their wedding, their union hav- 
ing been blessed with eleven children — seven 
boys and four girls, three of the former 
dying in childhood, and one at the age of 
twenty-four, of malarial fever, while serving 
in the defence of his country on the Island 
of Roanoke. 

The parents' children and grandchildren 
now number thirty-three in all, and for 
many years they have been in the habit of 
meeting regularly on every Thanksgiving 




smisi smnoMBU) 



Wil— Wat | 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



641 



day around the parental table with thankful 
hearts to an overruling Providence for a 
liberal portion of health, happiness, and 
prosperity. 

Willard, John D., was a native of Lan- 
caster, N. H., where he was born November 
4th, 1799, and was the son of a clergyman. 
He was a descendant of Major Simon Wil- 
lard, who emigrated to this country from the 
County of Kent, England, in 1643. 

Senator Willard was educated at Dart- 
mouth College, where he graduated at the 
early age of nineteen. He commenced the 
study of law in Chenango County, N. Y., 
completed it in Troy, and was admitted to 
the bar in 1826. He immediately opened 
an office in that city, where he had already 
made many warm friends. The next year 
he was nominated by DeWitt Clinton for 
Surrogate of the County of Rensselaer. In 
1834, he was appointed Judge of the County 
Courts of Rensselaer County, on the nomi- 
nation of William L. Marcy. This office 
he held six years. In the mean time his 
business as a lawyer had been constantly 
increasing, and was now very extensive. 
He then determined to devote himself en- 
tirely to his profession, and after this time 
steadily refused all nominations for election 
to public office. In 1850, accompanied by 
his wife, he carried out a plan he had long 
cherished of visiting Europe. He spent 
two months in Great Britain, and two 
months in Paris ; in the autumn he visited 
Belgium, Western Germany, and Switzer- 
land, and passed the winter in Italy, divid- 
ing his time chiefly between Florence, 
Rome, and Naples. In the following spring 
and summer he extended his tour through 
Austria, Hungary, Prussia, and Poland, go- 
ing as far east as Warsaw. He afterward 
x 7 



visited Holland, and returned to America 
after an absence of more than a year. In 
1855, he again embarked for Europe, partly 
for the benefit of his health, and partly to 
accompany a son. He was absent from 
the country on this visit about fifteen 
months. 

In the fall of 1857, Judge Willard yielded 
to the earnest request of his Democratic 
friends, and accepted the nomination of 
that party for Senator from the Twelfth 
district, and was elected, although the dis- 
trict gave at the previous election a ma- 
jority for Fremont over Buchanan of nearly 
five thousand. 

Judge Willard, though not a church 
member, attended the services of the Pres- 
byterian Church, and for several years was 
chairman of the board of trustees of the 
Second Presbyterian congregation in Troy 
— the Rev. Dr. Smalley's. He was a direc- 
tor in the Commercial Bank of Troy, and 
a member of various literary and scientific 
societies. In 1839, he married Miss Laura 
Barnes. He had a taste for literary pur- 
suits, and found time amid the engrossing 
cares of a laborious profession to give 
much attention to general literature. In 
public, as in private life, he was straightfor- 
ward, upright, decided, and reliable ; a 
sound, successful lawyer, always occupying 
the front rank in his profession ; an able 
legislator, and a representative of whom the 
people of the Twelfth Senatorial district 
may well feel proud. 

He died at Troy, October 9th, 1864, 
deeply mourned by all who knew him, and 
his loss was felt by the whole community in 
which he lived. 

Wotkyns, Dr. Alfred, was born at 
Walpole, N. H., September 7th, 1798. 



642 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[WlL 



His father was a farmer. He was mainly 
educated by a private tutor, under whose 
charge he was put at the age of thirteen. 
At the age of nineteen, he came to Troy, 
and entered the office of the late Dr. Mor- 
ris Hale. In 182 1, he was admitted to the 
practice of medicine, and became a part- 
ner of Dr. Hale ; but not long afterward, 
wishing to perfect himself in his profession, 
he removed to Philadelphia, where he read 
medicine one year under the tuition of 
Dr. Nathaniel Chapman, and attended the 
lectures of the University of Pennsylvania, 
of which institution he is a graduate. He 
returned to Troy in 1822, and applied for 
the appointment of surgeon in the United 
States army, and received the appointment, 
though there were some three hundred ap- 
plications for the position, and was soon 
ordered to Natchitoches, La., on the Red 
River, about two hundred miles above New 
Orleans, an extreme frontier post. A sub- 
sequent order changed his destination to 
Pensacola, Fla., at which post there were 
then stationed some two thousand men. 
Here he remained two years as surgeon, 
when he resigned. Returning to Troy, he 
reopened a physician's office, and for a long 
period of nearly fifty years was a practising 
physician of that city. He has been presi- 
dent of the County Medical Society. He 
was many times a delegate to the State So- 
ciety, of which organization he was a per- 
manent member. In 1838, when Troy had 
but three supervisors, Dr. Watkyns repre- 
sented the Second district. He was one 
of the originators of the Marshall Infirm- 
ary, and a governor of the institution from 
its commencement, and a member of the 
medical board. When the State Bank went 
into operation in 1852, Dr. Watkyns was 
chosen its president, and continued as such 



until January, 1868. The prosperity of 
this banking institution is well known, and 
it is conceded that its success has been 
largely due to the striking financial abilities 
and great business sagacity of its president. 
In 1857-58, Dr. Watkyns was mayor of 
Troy. It will be recalled as the panic year 
for the whole country. City finances were 
somewhat embarrassed throughout, and the 
aid of Mayor Watkyns, furnished in ena- 
bling the city to meet all of its obligations 
on the one hand, and to escape the extor- 
tion of money-lenders on the other, was 
very considerable as well as very timely. 
In the discharge of his official duties, he 
exhibited his characteristic business prompt- 
ness. Dr. Alfred Watkyns died on the 
23d of December, 1876, deeply mourned by 
his family and friends. The life of Dr. 
Watkyns was an eventful one. There was 
not a word of reproach against his charac- 
ter, nothing to sully his fair name, nothing 
to dim the lustre of his life, still left shining 
as a bright example to be followed ; and now 
that his spirit hath calmly glided from this 
earth, his honored name will not be for- 
gotten. 

Wilcox, Captain Timothy Dwight, 

was born at Simsbury, Hartford County 
Ct., on the 1st day of February, 1803. The 
early years of his life, and until he was fif- 
teen, were mostly spent on a farm. During 
this period, he obtained all the education he 
ever had, attending the country district- 
school a few weeks each winter. In Feb- 
ruary, 1 81 8, his parents left Connecticut for 
Ohio, taking with them their whole family. 
When they reached Albany, both were taken 
sick, and compelled to stop their journey. 
The subject of this sketch was obliged to ob- 
tain work, and on the opening of navigation 



Wri] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



649 



on the Hudson River, in April, he was em- 
ployed on Fulton's steamboat, the Paragon. 
From that time to the present writing (Sep- 
tember, 1877), a period of fifty-nine years, 
he has been engaged constantly and actively 
in the steamboat interests, and to-day is one 
of the oldest, if not the oldest, steamboat 
man living. During this remarkably long 
period of active life, he was for a number of 
years steamboating on the Hudson River, 
Long Island Sound, between Boston and 
points on the Penobscot and Kennebec. 
In the fall of 1841, he removed his home 
from New York City to Ithaca, N.Y., where 
he has since lived, excepting five years, 
from 1850 to 1855, in the steamboat busi- 
ness on Cayuga Lake. For many years, he 
has been the sole owner and proprietor of 
the steamers on that lake, and at present 
he owns and runs five boats. Captain Wil- 
cox has been twice married, and now has 
three children living. 

Wright, Luther, was born at Nelson, 
N. H., September 13th, 1799. In 1806, his 
father moved to the town of Rodman, Jeffer- 
son County, N. Y., and followed the occupa- 
tion of farmer. The subject of this sketch 
was brought up on his father's farm until 
seventeen years of age, during which time he 
received a common and academic education. 
He then taught school for two years, after 
which he clerked in a store six or seven 
years. In 1825, he moved to Tompkins 
County, became a merchant, and continued 
there until 1832, when he removed to 
Oswego, then a very small village, where he 
engaged in the milling and forwarding busi- 
ness until 1842, when he was burned out. 
In 1843, ne commenced banking, a calling he 
has been more or less engaged in ever since. 
In 1828, he was married to Miss Lucinda 



Smith, daughter of his former employer. In 
1840, he was married a second time, to Miss 
L. Baily, formerly from Adams, Jefferson 
County, New York, by whom he has had 
four children, two of whom survive. In the 
course of his long and useful business career, 
he has held several directorships in banks, 
and otherwise interested largely in business 
operations. He is now President of the 
Oswego City Savings Bank, and Oswego 
Gas Light Company. He was also Treasu- 
rer of the Oswego and Syracuse Railroad 
from its organization until leased to the Del- 
aware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. 

A brief sketch of Mr. Wright's life is useful 
for its practical instruction. He has amassed 
a large fortune. Yet he has never risked a 
dollar in the precarious investments of specu- 
lation, but gradually added to his little com- 
mencement till its present proportions have 
been reached ; and nothing exists to dim the 
lustre of his life, now so near its setting, in 
the sear of which hosts of friends and family 
gather round him ; and when his spirit will 
calmly and hopefully glide away, his honored 
name will not be forgotten. 

Wright, William, was born in Wayne 
County, N. Y., in 1818. He belongs 
to the number of our self-made men, as his 
success in life is due to his mechanical genius 
and his continual exertion to improve on his 
own works, and excel others by his own 
labor. He received in early life only a com- 
mon-school education, until, at the age of 
eighteen, he commenced to learn his trade as 
a mechanic with one John Daggett, of New- 
ark, N. Y. He had shown his natural genius 
for steam engineering by building a small en- 
gine, alone, in the cellar of his father's house, 
doing all work by hand, after having seen 
only one small engine before. After contin 



650 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



[WRI 



uing with Mr. Daggett for two and a half 
years, being part of this time foreman of the 
shop, he moved to Niagara Falls, engaging 
in the repair-shops of the Buffalo and Niagara 
Falls Railroad, with the intention to become 
an engineer of that railroad, but was com- 
pelled to desist on account of ill-health. A 
few months' stay at home enabled him to en- 
gage in building steam-engines, with a Mr. 
Williams, in Palmyra, until he removed to 
Rochester, in 1842, where he built engines, 
with a Mr. John Bush, until 1845. It was 
while here that Mr. Wright took unto himself 
a life-partner by being married to Miss Eliza- 
beth G. Taft. In that same year Mr. W. 
invented a rotary steam-engine, and went to 
Providence with one F. Church, with whom 
he formed a partnership, to build these en- 
gines; but he continued with him only one 
year, after which he was for a short time with 
a Providence Tool Company, until he en- 
gaged with Corliss, Nightingale & Co., man- 
ufacturers of steam-engines, with whom he 
was employed until 1850. At that time, Mr. 
W. engaged to build a large condensing en- 
gine for Brown Brothers, of Waterbury, Ct, 
which engine is still in use by the above firm. 
After this, Mr. W. was employed as general 
superintendent, with a salary, by Messrs. 
Woodruff & Beach, of Hartford, Ct., and 
superintended the designing, building, and 
erection of several large engines, similar to 
the one built for Brown Brothers, besides the 
large pumping-engines for the Brooklyn 
Water-works, which he patented, with another 
automatic cut-off engine, extensively built 
and used in all parts of this country. This 
cut-off engine was one of the first of that kind 
made. During that time, Mr. W. also super- 
intended the building and erection of the 
machinery of the Kearsarge, and many other 
gunboats used in the late war. In 1863, Mr. 



Wright resigned his position with the above 
house, and became one of the firm of the 
New York Steam-Engine Company, remain- 
ing as such until 1866, building during that 
time many engines for the government boats. 
In 1866, he connected hinfself with Homer 
Ramsdell, Esq., of Newburg, N. Y., for the 
purpose of building his patented steam-en- 
gines, Mr. W. receiving a salary and royalty 
on his patents; as, in 1867, the firm changed 
hands, Mr. W. made the same arrangements 
with the new firm ; and again, when the 
Washington Iron-Works became an incor- 
porated company, remaining such until 
1870, when Mr. Wright himself formed, with 
several partners, the house of William Wright 
& Co., doing business in the same shop 
formerly occupied by the Washington Iron- 
Works. Mr. Wright is at present the only 
surviving member of that firm ; he is engaged 
in manufacturing his greatly improved auto- 
matic cut-off engines, which are extensively 
used in all parts of our country ; and has 
lately built some more of his patented pump- 
ing engines, greatly improved by applying 
the system of compound engines, which 
attain a duty of work heretofore unknown, and 
which are a credit to his mechanical genius. 
Mr. Wright, through his long experience and 
his application to the improvement of steam- 
engines, stands now at the head of his pro- 
fession as an engine-builder. He has made as 
many inventions and improvements in steam- 
engines as any one we can now call to mind, 
and he has through a long course of success- 
ful life proved worthy of the highest esteem 
for honor and integrity ; and now, in his six- 
tieth year, still living at Newburg, has 
promise of many years in which to enjoy the 
fruits of his labor. His motto in life has 
been and is to excel in all he undertook, and 
his success in life shows how well he has lived 



• .■;>.- 






^%udKx 



K 




Wyc] 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. 



655 



up to this maxim, which he set before him as 
a guide. 

Wyckoff, Arcalous, was born in Asbury, 
N. J., on the 10th of April, 1816. He was 
the fifth son of Peter Wyckoff, a farmer, who, 
when the subject of this sketch was one year 
old, moved to Tompkins County, N. Y., and 
had the misfortune to lose all his property. 
He then commenced to make fanning-mills, 
by which he earned his living some time, 
his son Arcalous learning the trade of his 
father, which he afterward put to good use. 

Mr. Wyckoff attended the common schools 
of his home until sixteen years old, when he 
gave his time to making what he could in 
different ways till he was about twenty-four. 
Being ambitious to make money, he left his 
home, going to Wellsburg, Chemung County, 
N. Y., where he commenced to manufacture 
fanning-mills. This he continued about two 
years, when he went into the manufacturing 
of potash, and mercantile business, with a 
brother, continuing it three years. Thinking 
the field not large enough, he moved to El- 
mira, and engaged in the manufacturing and 
sale of fanning-mills. Here he remained one 
year. At this time, the chain-pump came 
largely into use, and he engaged in the man- 
ufacture of the wood work and the sale of 
the pump in the place of his adoption, Ulys- 
ses, Tompkins County, N. Y. At the expira- 
tion of one year, he returned to Elmira, 
where, in company with D. B. Wheeler, he 
commenced the manufacture of the chain. 
The next year, they moved to Tompkins 
County, took in another partner, and contin- 
ued to manufacture on a larger scale. Soon 
after this, Mr. Wyckoff sold out his interest, 
and moved to Dayton, Ohio, where, in com- 
pany with a partner, he engaged in the sale 
ot the chain-pump. He afterward manufac- 



tured the pump chain at Springfield, Ohio, then 
at Cincinnati. While here, his partner's be- 
havior caused financial embarrassment, which, 
after Mr. W. had adjusted properly, he moved 
to Columbus, and was in business with Abner 
Cooper, formerly of Elmira. While here, he 
lost his wife, in 1855, who was the daughter 
of Dr. Hopkins, of Wellsburg, and by whom 
he had four children, two only surviving. 
After this sad loss referred to, Mr. Wyckoff 
returned to Elmira, where he has since re- 
sided, proving himself one of her most active 
and useful citizens, useful not only to the city 
of his residence, but to the country at large ; 
for he is the inventor of both the Wyckoff 
pavement and the Wyckoff boring-machine, 
both widely known. He is also largely inter- 
ested in real estate and building operations, 
having erected in one continuous block eleven 
stores, the whole being fire-proof excepting 
four. In i860, he, in connection with three 
gentlemen from Rochester, built the water- 
works at Elmira, all the pipe used being con- 
structed by the machinery of his invention. 
To these enterprising gentlemen, who were 
losers by the operation, is the city of Elmira 
indebted for its present water supply. 

Thus we give a short sketch of a useful and 
somewhat eventful life of one of Elmira's 
most enterprising citizens, who still lives to 
enjoy the benefit of his arduous labors, much 
respected by the community of which he is a 
member. 

Wyckoff, Nicholas, was born in the 
town of Bushwick, now Brooklyn, Kings 
County, N. Y.,on the 30th of October, 1799. 
His parents were Peter and Gertrude Wyckoff, 
and his father's ancestry emigrated to this 
country from Holland in 1635. During his 
youth, the subject of this sketch attended the 
common-schools, then very poor. At the age 



656 



BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 



[Wyc 



of twelve, he finished his education by attend- 
ing for two years a private school in Con- 
necticut ; after which, he returned home and 
helped his father on the farm, attending school 
during the winter months. From this time 
until 1842, he worked the farm with his father, 
producing market supplies, at which they 
proved very successful. In 1842, his father 
died and left his son Nicholas the sole pos- 
sessor of the homestead farm. This he con- 
tinued to work until i860, when he was 
elected to fill the vacancy in the presidency 
of the Williamsburg City Bank (now First 
National), caused by the death of its former 
president, Noah Waterbury, Esq. This office 
he still holds, and, since the commencement 



of his banking career, his son has had charge 
of the farm, though Mr. Wyckoff continues to 
reside at the old homestead, situated about 
two miles from the bank. In 1826, he was 
married to Sarah A., daughter of Gen. Jere- 
miah Johnson, by whom he has had four 
children, only one of whom (Peter) survives. 
Throughout his successful career, Mr. Wyckoff 
has been a hard worker, and believes that en- 
ergy and industry will accomplish almost any 
thing. It is this that has gained for him 
esteem, position, and wealth, and if the youth 
of the rising generation would go and do 
likewise, they would in time achieve what he 
has done. 



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